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HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 



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EVAN GE LI N E 

A TALE OF ACADIE 



HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 

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WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, 
EXPLANATORY NOTES 
AND CRITICAL OPINIONS 



BV 

A. J. DEMAREST, A. M. 

Superintendent of Schools, Hoboken, N. J. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

CHRISTOPHER SOWER COMPANY 

1 24 N. Eighteenth Street 



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Copyright, 1911, by 
Christopher Sower Company 



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C^CI,A297135 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Prefatory Note to the Teacher 5 

Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie 11 

Prelude ••• ^^ 

Part the First 14 

Part the Second 66 

Biographical Sketch of Longfellow 123 

His Boyhood 123 

His College Days 123 

Bowdoin Professorship 124 

His Marriage 124 

Harvard Professorship 124 

His Cambridge Home 125 

His Death 126 

Chronology of Longfellow's Poetry and Prose 126 

Origin of the Poem 1-^*^ 

3 



4 CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Historical Material 129 

The Acadians 129 

A Picture of Acadian Life 140 

The Meter of Evangeline 142 

Suggestive Questions 144 

Critical Opinions of Evangeline 146 

Bibliography 148 



PREFATORY NOTE TO THE TEACHER 



Before the reading of "Evangeline" is taken up for class 
work the teacher should make a careful study of the historic 
facts with which the poem deals, in order to give a correct inter- 
pretation of this great masterpiece. While "Evangeline" will 
appeal to the ordinary reader, yet some preparation on the 
part of the teacher is essential for class-room work. This 
critical study should be of a two-fold character: first, the 
foundations upon which the author built his story; and, second, 
references to poems of other authors, similar in character, with 
which portions of "Evangeline" may be compared and contrasted. 
It should be kept in mind that the background of "Evangeline" 
is not biographical, but historical. The teacher should be thor- 
oughly familiar with the historical conditions that made the 
banishment of the Acadians possible, in order to get in the atmos- 
phere of the poem. In teaching any classic it should be the aim 
of the teacher to implant in the minds of the pupils a strong 
desire to read that particular story. 

Outline for Class Reading 

A classic improves with each reading, and this poem should be 
read by the class at least three times. 

First Reading 

The first step in the reading of any classic is to read it as 
a whole for the purpose of permitting the pupil to get the thread 
of the story. In no sense should this reading be used as a formal 
reading lesson. We shall make an inevitable failure if we 

5 



6 PREFATORY NOTE TO THE TEACHER 

attempt to teach reading in connection with Hterary appreciation 
of a classic. The first lessons, then, should require merely an 
intelligent reading of the poem. The poem should be read aloud 
in a pleasing manner to get a good understanding and appreciation 
of the story. Each day's lesson should be so planned that it 
will stop at some interesting place in order to keep up a sustained 
interest on the part of the class. When we have read and have 
grasped the poem as a whole, we are ready for the second reading. 

Second Reading 

In reading the poem a second time we should aim to study the 
mechanical means by which the author secured his effects. In 
this detailed study the teacher should do all the reading, 
planning each day's lesson so that it will stop at some logical place 
in the story. During the second reading the student should 
form clear conceptions of — 

(a) The Characters. — Are the people in the poem life-like? 
Are they real? Can you see them? What are the prominent 
traits of each character? Has this poem a hero? a heroine? 
Which is your favorite character? Why? How many of the 
characters are real persons? Which characters are fictional — 
that is, creations of the poet? Poetic beauty is often found in 
comparisons and contrasts. Frequently poets present two 
characters to bring out the individuality of the other more 
strongly, i. e., the two friends — Benedict, the contented farmer, 
and Basil, the impulsive smith. Contrast these two characters, 
showing them to be men of different type, yet drawn toward each 
other by strong ties of friendship; show their difference in char- 
acter; their difference in thought (how each regarded the coming 
of the British ships), their difference in temperament (as shown 
in the church and how each bore misfortune), and how the poet 
characterized each by the adjectives that he used. Then com- 
pare these persons and see in what respects they are alike. 
Father Felician is portrayed as a model priest. To add interest 
to the work the teacher may tell of other characters that have 



PREFATORY NOTE TO THE TEACHER 7 

been portrayed in literature as pastors — the kind-hearted priest 
in Les Miserahles, the benevolent i^reacher in The Deserted 
Village, and the Vicar of Wakefield, who appears as priest and 
king. Compare Basil with ''Henry of the Wynd" in The Fair 
Maid of Perth. In this connection read Longfellow's Village 
Blacksmith. The theme of the poem is "the beauty and strength 
of woman's devotion." Justify this statement by selections from 
the poem. Can you picture Evangeline's childhood, her home, 
her exile, her endurance of sorrow, her wanderings, her hopes, 
her faith and her devotion to her father and to her lover? Which 
character is the most vividly portrayed? the most dimly por- 
trayed? Which character in the poem is historical? Gather 
together all that the poet says of the principal characters. 

(b) The Setting. — Where are the scenes of this poem laid? 
Are the descriptions true to nature? At what time of the year 
did the dispersion take place? Can you see the ideal village of 
Grand- Pre, surrounded by rich meadows and with its quaint 
Normandy cottages, the costumes of its peasants, and its medi- 
aeval church? In Part I the poet has presented a Utopian vil- 
lage — everything is idealistic — the happy, contented, and pros- 
perous villagers, the prospects of an abundant harvest, the 
marriage contract between Gabriel and Evangeline, the feast 
of betrothal, and the anticipation of a new home. Then comes 
the contrast — the gathering of the villagers in the church, the 
announcement of the cruel sentence, the separation of the lovers, 
the death of Benedict, and the dispersion of the Acadians. In 
Part II we hopefully follow Evangeline in her search for Gabriel 
and sympathize with her as her disappointments and sorrows 
increase. We see her with old friends in Louisiana; we see her 
at the squalid Indian camp in the far west, and we journey with 
her to the Michigan forests, but all in vain. She missed Gabriel 
at first by a few hours, then by a day, and finally they became more 
and more separated from each other until the beauty and 
strength of her devotion is rewarded by the reunion of the 
lovers at Gabriel's death-bed in the old Alms House in 
Philadelphia. 



8 PREFATORY NOTE TO THE TEACHER 

Does the poet mention any "local color," that is, objects, 
customs, and costumes peculiar to the time and place? Do the 
descriptions of nature surpass the delineations of personal por- 
traits? 

(c) The Plot. — Is the story interesting? Does it hold your 
interest? Is the story devoid of dramatic incidents? Do the facts 
follow each other in the sequence of time? Are there any parts 
where the interest flags? Does the story lack unity? At what 
point in the story is the interest (climax) at the highest pitch? 
Why were the stories of Mowis and Lilinau introduced? 

(d) The Style. — Name the colloquial and idiomatic expressions. 
Select words that are strong and terse; those that are highly 
polished or ornamental. Notice that many of the sentences are 
inverted, i. e., "White as the gnow were his locks." 

Notice that the poet frequently begins a sentence in the 
middle of a line and lets it run over into the next line. Call 
attention to the various allusions: 

"Stand like Druids of eld," I, 3. 
"Louisburg is not forgotten," I, 249. 

Note the Biblical allusions. Is the language different from 
that of prose? Teach the pupils to recognize the commonest 
figures of speech. What is Longfellow's favorite figure of speech? 

(e) Memory Gems. — The pupils should be encouraged to select 
choice passages for memorization and to state the reasons for 
their selection. 

(f) Collateral Reading. — The study of this poem should be pre- 
sented in such an interesting manner as to give the pupils a desire 
to read other narrative poems. The following poems are sug- 
gestive: Longfellow's Courtship of Miles Standish, Tennyson's 
Enoch Arden, and Scott's Marmion. 

(g) Composition and Outline Work. — Brief compositions may 
be written upon selected topics or in reproducing parts of the 
story. The following list of composition subjects from Evangel- 
ine may be profitably used in connection with the study of the 
poem: 



PREFATORY NOTE TO THE TEACHER 9 

a. The Village of Grand-Pre. 

b. Benedict's Home. 

c. Benedict and Basil. 

d. Evangeline's Childhood. 

e. Evangeline and her Father. 

f. Autumn in Acadia. 

g. Evangeline's Lovers. 
h. The Notary. 

i. The Story of Justice, 
j. The Night of the Contract, 
k. The Feast of the Betrothal. 
1. The Message from the King, 
m. The House of the Prince of Peace, 
n. The Last Night in Acadia. 
o. The Death of Benedict, 
p. Weary Years of Wandering, 
q. The Journey to Opelousas. 
r. Basil's Southern Home. 
s. The Passing of Gabriel, 
t. Evangeline's Stay at the Mission, 
u. Evangeline, a Sister of Mercy. 

V. Was the expulsion of the Acadians justifiable? discuss 
either side of the question. 

Third Reading 

This reading should be free from all criticism and should be 
given for the purpose of permitting the student to enjoy the 
revealed beauty of the poem. 



EVANGELINE 



This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines 
and the hemlocks, 

Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct 
in the twilight. 

Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and pathetic, 

Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their 
bosoms. 

Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neigh- 
boring ocean 5 

Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail 
of the forest. 

This is the forest primeval; but where are the hearts 
that beneath it 

Why "murmuring pines"? ''deep-voiced ocean"? Does the 
forest really wail? Select and name figures of speech. 

Primeval, belonging to the first ages; literally a forest which 
has never been cut. 

Druids, an order of priests which in ancient times existed 
among certain branches of the Celtic race. The word, which is 
Celtic, means a magician. They practised magic and divination 
and sacrificed human beings. They performed their sacred 
rites in oak forests or in caves. 

Eld, old English form of old. 

Harpers Hoar, refers to ancient players upon the harp who 
were generally old men with long beards. 

11 



EVANGELINE 13 

Leaped like the roe, when he hears in the woodland the 

voice of the huntsman? 
Where is the thatch-roofed village, the home of Acadian 

farmers, — 
Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the 

woodlands, 10 

Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting an 

image of heaven? 
Waste are those pleasant farms, and the farmers for- 
ever departed! 
Scattered like dust and leaves, when the mighty blasts 

of October 
Seize them, and whirl them aloft, and sprinkle them 

far o'er the ocean. 
Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful village 

of Grand-Pre. 15 

Ye who believe in affection that hopes, and endures, 

and is patient, 
Ye who believe in the beauty and strength of woman's 

devotion. 
List to the mournful tradition still sung by the pines 

of the forest; 
List to a Tale of Love in Acadie, home of the happy. 

What is the object of a prelude? Does the prelude of this 
poem in any way foreshadow the story? Which part of the 
prelude gives a mournful background? tells the fate of the 
Acadians? From the prelude determine the theme of the poem; 
the author's point of view. 

Grand-Pre (gran-prfi), meaning a great meadow. French, 
grand, great, and pre, meadow. 



PART THE FIRST 



In the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of 

Minas, 20 

Distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand- 

Pre 
Lay in the fruitful valley. Vast meadows stretched 

to the eastward, 
Giving the village its name, and pasture to flocks 

without number. 
Dikes, that the hands of the farmers had raised with 

labor incessant, 
Shut out the turbulent tides; but at stated seasons the 

flood-gates 25 

Opened and welcomed the sea to wander at will o'er 

the meadows. 
West and south there were fields of flax, and orchards 

and cornfields 

Basin of Minas, a small bay upon the northern coast of 
Nova Scotia — an arm of the Bay of Fundy. 

Dike, an embankment to prevent inundations. 

The Bay of Fundy has remarkable tides rising to the height 
of 50 to 60 feet. 

14 



EVANGELINE 15 

Spreading afar and unfenced o'er the plain; and away 

to the northward 
Blomidon rose, and the forests old, and aloft on the 

mountains 
Sea-fogs pitched their tents, and mists from the mighty- 
Atlantic 30 
Looked on the happy valley, but ne'er from their 

station descended. 
There, in the midst of its farms, reposed the Acadian 

village. 
Strongly built were the houses, with frames of oak and 

of chestnut, 
Such as the peasants of Normandy built in the reign 

of the Henries. 
Thatched were the roofs, with dormer-windows; and 

gables projecting 35 

Over the basement below protected and shaded the 

doorway. 
There in the tranquil evenings of summer, when 

brightly the sunset 

Blomidon, a headland of red sandstone, four hundred feet 
high, at the entrance of the Basin of Minas. 

Normandy, a province of France bordering the English 
Channel. The Acadians came from Normandy about 1633-38. 

The Henries were the Kings of France, Henry HI and Henry 
IV, who reigned during the 16th and 17th centuries. 

Dormer-windows, the windows of a sleeping apartment. 

Gable, the vertical triangular portion of the end of a building, 
from the level of the eaves to the ridge of the building. 



EVANGELINE 17 

Lighted the village street, and gilded the vanes on the 

chimneys, 
Matrons and maidens sat in snow-white caps and in 

kirtles 
Scarlet and blue and green, with distaffs spinning the 

golden 40 

Flax for the gossiping looms, whose noisy shuttles 

within doors 
Mingled their sound with the whir of the wheels and 

the songs of the maidens. 
Solemnly down the street came the parish priest, and 

the children 
Paused in their play to kiss the hand he extended to 

bless them. 
Reverend walked he among them ; and up rose matrons 

and maidens, 45 

Hailing his slow approach with words of affectionate 

welcome. 
Then came the laborers home from the field, and serenely 

the sun sank 
Down to his rest, and twilight prevailed. Anon from 

the belfry 

Why are looms said to gossip? Select a word called onomato- 
poetic. 

KiRTLE, a skirt worn over a petticoat. 

Distaff, a staff for holding a bunch of flax or wool, from which 
the thread is drawn in spinning by hand. 

Shuttle is an instrument used by weavers in shooting the 
thread of the woof (cross threads) between the threads of the 
warp (threads running lengthwise). 



18 EVANGELINE 

Softly the Angelus sounded, and over the roofs of the 

village 
Columns of pale blue smoke, like clouds of incense 

ascending, 50 

Rose from a hundred hearths, the homes of peace and 

contentment. 
Thus dwelt together in love these simple Acadian 

farmers, — 
Dwelt in the love of God and of man. Alike were 

they free from 
Fear, that reigns with the tyrant, and envy, the vice 

of republics. 
Neither locks had they to their doors, no bars to their 

windows; 55 

But their dwellings were open as day and the hearts of 

the owners; 
There the richest was poor, and the poorest lived in 

abundance. 

Somewhat apart from the village, and nearer the 

Basin of Minas, 
Benedict Bellefontaine, the wealthiest farmer of 

Grand-Pre, 
Dwelt on his goodly acres; and with him, directing 

his household, 60 

What is the meaning of the expression, "the vice of repnbhcs"? 

Angelus refers to the tolHng of the church bell in the morning, 
at noon, and in the evening, announcing the hour of prayer in 
memory of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin 
Mary that she was to be the mother of Jesus. 



EVANGELINE 19 

Gentle Evangeline lived, his child, and the pride of 

the village. 
Stalwart and stately in form was the man of seventy 

winters ; 
Hearty and hale was he, an oak that is covered with 

snow-flakes; 
White as the snow were his locks, and his cheeks as 

brown as the oak-leaves. 
Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen 

summers; 65 

Black were her eyes as the berry that grows on the 

thorn by the wayside. 
Black, yet how softly they gleamed beneath the brown 

shade of her tresses! 
Sweet was her breath as the breath of kine that feed 

in the meadows. 
When in the harvest heat she bore to the reapers at 

noontide 
Flagons of home-brewed ale, ah! fair in sooth was the 

maiden. 70 

Fairer was she when, on Sunday morn, while the bell 

from its turret 
Sprinkled with holy sounds the air, as the priest with 

his hyssop 
Sprinkles the congregation, and scatters blessings 

upon them. 

What figure of speech is "the man of seventy winters"? white 
as the snow were his locks"? 

Hyssop, a plant the twigs of which were used for sprinkling 
in the ceremony of purification. 



20 EVANGELINE 

Down the long street she passed, with her chaplet 

of beads and her missal, 
Wearing her Norman cap and her kirtle of blue, and 

the ear-rings 75 

Brought in the olden time from France, and since, as 

an heirloom. 
Handed down from mother to child, through long 

generations. 
' But a celestial brightness — a more ethereal beauty — 
Shone on her face and encircled her form, when, after 

confession. 
Homeward serenely she walked with God's benediction 

upon her. 80 

( When she had passed, it seemed like the ceasing of 

exquisite music. 

Firmly builded with rafters of oak, the house of the 
farmer 

Stood on the side of a hill commanding the sea; and 
a shady 

Sycamore grew by the door, with a woodbine wreath- 
ing around it. 

Rudely carved was the porch, with seats beneath; and 
a foot-path 85 

Led through an orchard wide, and disappeared in the 
meadow. 



Chaplet of Beads means the rosary or string of beads by 
which the prayers are counted. 

Missal, a book of prayers used in the Roman Catholic service. 



EVANGELINE 21 

Under the sycamore-tree were hives overhung by a 

penthouse, 
Such as the traveller sees in regions remote by the road- 
side, 
Built o'er a box for the poor, or the blessed image of 

Mary. 
Farther down, on the slope of the hill, was the well 

with its moss-grown 90 

Bucket, fastened with iron, and near it a trough for 

the horses. 
Shielding the house from storms, on the north, were 

the barns and the farm-yard; 
There stood the broad-wheeled wains and the antique 

ploughs and the harrows; 
There were the folds for the sheep; and there, in his 

feathered seraglio. 
Strutted the lordly turkey, and crowed the cock, with 

the selfsame 95 

Voice that in ages of old had startled the penitent 

Peter. 
Bursting with hay were the barns, themselves a village. 

In each one 
Far o^er the gable projected a roof of thatch; and a 

staircase, 

Penthouse, a shed or roof sloping from the main wall or build- 
ing as over a door or window. 
Mary, the mother of Christ. 
Wains, wagons. 
Seraglio, an inclosure. 
Line 96, see Luke xxii, 60, 61. 



22 EVANGELINE 

Under the sheltering eaves, led up to the odorous corn- 
loft. 

There too the dove-cot stood, with its meek and in- 
nocent inmates 100 

Murmuring ever of love; while above in the variant 
breezes 

Numberless noisy weathercocks rattled and sang of 
mutation. 

Thus, at peace with God and the world, the farmer 
of Grand-Pre 

Lived on his sunny farm, and Evangeline governed his 
household. 

Many a youth, as he knelt in the church and opened his 
missal, 105 

Fixed his eyes upon her as the saint of his deepest 
devotion; 

Happy was he who might touch her hand or the hem of 
her garment! 

Many a suitor came to her door, by the darkness be- 
friended, 

And, as he knocked and waited to hear the sound of her 
footsteps, 

Knew not which beat the louder, his heart or the 
knocker of iron; 110 

Or, at the joyous feast of the Patron Saint of the vil- 
lage. 

Weathercock, a weathervane, so called because originally it 
was often in the figure of a cock. 
Mutation, change. 
Patron Saint, a saint chosen as a special protector. 



EVANGELINE 23 

Bolder grew, and pressed her hand in the dance as he 

whispered 
Hurried words of love, that seemed a part of the music. 
But among all who came young Gabriel only was 

welcome ; 
Gabriel Lajeunesse, the son of Basil the blacksmith, 115 
Who was a mighty man in the village, and honored of 

all men; 
For since the birth of time, throughout all ages and 

nations. 
Has the craft of the smith been held in repute by the 

people. 
Basil was Benedict's friend. Their children from ear- 
liest childhood 
Grew up together as brother and sister; and Father 

FeHcian, 120 

Priest and pedagogue both in the village, had taught 

them their letters 
Out of the selfsame book, with the hymns of the church 

and the plain-song. 
But when the hymn was sung, and the daily lesson 

completed, 
Swiftly they hurried away to the forge of Basil the 

blacksmith. 
There at the door they stood, with wondering eyes to 

behold him 125 

Lajeunesse, pronounced lii-zhe-nes. 
Pedagogue, schoolmaster. 

Plain-song, the Gregorian chant in church music with tones 
of unvaried and of equal length. 



24 EVANGELINE 

Take in his leathern lap the hoof of the horse as a play- 
thing, 
Naihng the shoe in its place; while near him the tire 

of the cart-wheel 
Lay hke a fiery snake, coiled round in a circle of cinders. 
Oft on autumnal eves, when without in the gathering 

darkness 
Bursting with light seemed the smithy, through every 

cranny and crevice, 130 

Warm by the forge within they watched the laboring 

bellows. 
And as its panting ceased, and the sparks expired in 

the ashes. 
Merrily laughed, and said they were nuns going into 

the chapel. 
Oft on sledges in winter, as swift as the swoop of the 

eagle, 
Down the hillside bounding, they glided away o'er the 

meadow. 135 

Oft in the barns they climbed to the populous nests on 

the rafters. 
Seeking with eager eyes that wondrous stone, which 

the swallow 
Brings from the shore of the sea to restore the sight of 

its fledglings; 
Circle of Cinders, name the figure of speech. 
Line 133, do you know of another similar saying? 
Line 136, why ''populous nests"? 

There is a French story to the effect that if one of the fledg- 
lings is blind, the mother bird seeks the sea-shore for a small 
stone with which she restores its sight. 



EVANGELINE 25 

Lucky was he who found that stone in the nest of the 

swallow! 
Thus passed a few swift years, and they no longer were 

children. 140 

He was a valiant youth, and his face, like the face of 

the morning, 
Gladdened the earth with its light, and ripened thought 

into action. 
She was a woman now, with the heart and hopes of a 

woman. 
'' Sunshine of Saint EulaUe " was she called; for that 

was the sunshine 
Which, as the farmers believed, would load their 

orchards with apples; 145 

She too would bring to her husband's house delight 

and abundance. 
Filling it full of love and the ruddy faces of children. 



II. 

Now had the season returned, when the nights grow 
colder and longer, 
And the retreating sun the sign of the Scorpion enters. 

Why was Evangeline called "the sunshine of St. Eulalie"? 

St. Eulalie's Day is February 12th. A saint of the Roman 
Catholic Church. According to the saying of the Norman French, 
*'if the sun shines on St. Eulahe's Day there will be apples and 
cider in abundance." 

Scorpion, in astronomy the eighth sign of the zodiac through 
which the sun enters about October 23d. 



26 EVANGELINE 

Birds of passage sailed through the leaden air, from the 

ice-bound, 150 

Desolate northern bays to the shores of tropical islands. 
Harvests were gathered in; and wild with the winds of 

September 
Wrestled the trees of the forest, as Jacob of old with the 

angel. 
All the signs foretold a winter long and inclement. 
Bees, with prophetic instinct of want, had hoarded their 

honey 155 

Till the hives overflowed; and the Indian hunters 

asserted 
Cold would the winter be, for thick was the fur of the 

foxes. 
Such was the advent of autumn. Theji followed that 

beautiful season. 
Called by the pious Acadian peasants the Summer of 

All-Saints! 
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; 

and the landscape 160 

Lay as if new-created in all the freshness of childhood. 
Peace seemed to reign upon earth, and the restless 

heart of the ocean 
Was for a moment consoled. All sounds were in har- 
mony blended. 

Line 153 refers to Jacob's wrestling with the angel, Gen. xxxii, 
24, 30. 

Summer of All Saints, popularly kno\^^l as Indian summer. 
All Saints' Day is November 1st. In the Roman Catholic Church 
it is known as the feast of All Saints. 



EVANGELINE 27 

Voices of children at play, tlie crowing of cocks in the 

farmyards, 
Whir of wings in the drowsy air, and the cooing of 

pigeons, 165 

All were subdued and low as the murmurs of love, and 

the great sun 
Looked with the eye of love through the golden vapors 

around him; 
While arrayed in its robes of russet and scarlet and 

yellow. 
Bright with the sheen of the dew, each glittering tree 

of the forest 
Flashed like the plane-tree the Persian adorned with 

mantles and jewels. 170 

Now recommenced the reign of rest and affection 
and stillness, 

Day with its burden and heat had departed, and 
twilight descending 

Brought back the evening star to the sky, and the 
herds to the homestead. 

Pawing the ground they came, and resting their necks 
on each other, 

And with their nostrils distended inhaling the fresh- 
ness of evening. 175 

Line 170, the story is tokl of Xerxes, that when he was making 
an expedition against Greece, he discovered a plane-tree whose 
surprising beauty engaged his affection to such an extent that he 
dressed it with a woman's garments and jewels. 



28 EVANGELINE 

Foremost, bearing the bell, Evangeline's beautiful 

heifer, 
Proud of her snow-white hide, and the ribbon that 

waved from her collar, 
Quietly paced and slow, as if conscious of human 

affection. 
Then came the shepherd back with his bleating flocks 

from the seaside. 
Where was their favorite pasture. Behind them 

followed the watch-dog, 180 

Patient, full of importance, and grand in the pride of 

his instinct, 
Walking from side to side with a lordly air, and sup- 
erbly 
Waving his bushy tail, and urging forward the stragglers; 
Regent of flocks was he when the shepherd slept; their 

protector. 
When from the forest at night, through the starry 

silence, the wolves howled. 185 

Late, with the rising moon, returned the wains from- 

the marshes, 
Laden with briny hay, that filled the air with its odor. 
Cheerily neighed the steeds, with dew on their manes 

and their fetlocks, 
W^hile aloft on their shoulders the wooden and ponder- 
ous saddles, 
Painted with brilliant dyes, and adorned w^ith tassels 

of crimson, 190 

Nodded in bright array, like hollyhocks heavy with 

blossoms. 



EVANGELINE 29 

Patiently stood the cows meanwhile, and yielded their 

udders 
Unto the milkmaid's hand; whilst loud and in regular 

cadence 
Into the sounding pails the foaming streamlets de- 
scended. 
Lowing of cattle and peals of laughter were heard in 

the farmyard, 195 

Echoed back by the barns. Anon they sank into 

stillness ; 
Heavily closed, with a jarring sound, the valves of the 

barndoors. 
Rattled the wooden bars, and all for a season was 

silent. 

In-doors, warm by the wide-mouthed fireplace, idly 

the farmer 
Sat in his elbow-chair, and watched how the flames and 

the smoke-wreaths 200 

Struggled together like foes in a burning city. Behind 

him. 
Nodding and mocking along the wall with gestures 

fantastic, 
Darted his own huge shadow, and vanished away into 

darkness. 
Faces, clumsily carved in oak, on the back of his arm- 
chair 
Laughed in the flickering light, and the pewter plates 

on the dresser 205 

Dresser, a cupboard or sot of shelves for holding dishes. 



30 EVANGELINE 

Caught and reflected the flame, as shields of armies 

the smishine. 
Fragments of song the old man sang, and carols of 

Christmas, 
Such as at home, in the olden time, his fathers before 

him 
Sang in their Norman orchards and bright Burgundian 

vineyards. 
Close at her father's side was the gentle Evangeline 

seated, 210 

Spinning flax for the loom that stood in the corner 

])ehind her. 
Silent awhile were its treadles, at rest was its diligent 

shuttle, 
While the monotonous drone of the wheel, like the 

drone of a bagpipe. 
Followed the old man's song, and united the fragments 

together. 
As in a church, when the chant of the choir at intervals 

ceases, 215 

Footfalls are heard in the aisles, or words of the priest 

at the altar, 
So, in each pause of the song, with measured motion the 

clock clicked. 

What kind of an expression is "the clock clicked"? 

Burgundy, a province in eastern France noted for its 
wines. 

Bagpipe, a musical wind instrument now chiefly used in the 
Highlands of Scotland. 



EVANGELINE 31 

Thus as they sat, there were footsteps heard, and, 

suddenly Ufted, 
Sounded the wooden latch, and the door swung back on 
_ its hinges. 

Benedict knew by the hob-nailed shoes it was Basil the 

blacksmith, 220 

And by her beating heart Evangeline knew who was 

with him. 
'' Welcome! " the farmer exclaimed, as their footsteps 

paused on the threshold, 
'^ Welcome, Basil, my friend! Come, take thy place 

on the settle 
Close by the chimney-side, which is always empty 

without thee; 
Take from the shelf overhead thy pipe and the box of 

tobacco; 225 

Never so much thyself art thou as when, through the 

curling 
Smoke of the pipe or the forge, thy friendly and jovial 

face gleams 
Round and red as the harvest moon through the mist 

of the marshes." 
Then, with a smile of content, thus answered Basil 

the blacksmith, 
Taking with easy air the accustomed seat by the 

fireside:— 230 

^' Benedict Belief ontaine, thou hast ever thy jest and 

thy ballad! 

Settle, a bench with a high back. 



32 EVANGELINE 

Ever in cheerfulest mood art thou, when others are 

filled with 
Gloomy forebodings of ill, and see only ruin before 

them. 
Happy art thou, as if every day thou hadst picked up 

a horseshoe." 
Pausing a moment, to take the pipe that Evangeline 

brought him 235 

And with a coal from the embers had lighted, he slowly 

continued : — 
" Four days now are passed since the English ships at 

their anchors 
Ride in the Gaspereau's mouth, with their cannon 

pointed against us. 
What their design may be is unknown, but all are 

commanded 
On the morrow to meet in the church, where his 

Majesty's mandate 240 

Will be proclaimed as law in the land. Alas! in the 

meantime 
Many surmises of evil alarm the hearts of the people." 
Then made answer the farmer: — " Perhaps some 

friendlier purpose 
Brings these ships to our shores. Perhaps the harvests 

in England 

To pick up a horseshoe was an evidence of good luck to the 
finder. 

Gaspereau's Mouth, see map of Nova Scotia on page 130. 

Mandate, command; George II, 1727-1760. 



EVANGELINE 33 

By the untimely rains or untimelier heat have been 

blighted, 245 

And from our bursting barns they would feed their 

cattle and children." 
'' Not so thinketh the folk in the village," said warmly 

the blacksmith, 
Shaking his head as in doubt; then, heaving a sigh, 

he continued: — 
" Louisburg is not forgotten, nor Beau Sejour, nor 

Port Royal. 
Many already have fled to the forest, and lurk on its 

outskirts, 250 

Waiting with anxious hearts the dubious fate of to- 
morrow. 
Arms have been taken from us, and warlike weapons 

of all kinds; 
Nothing is left but the blacksmith's sledge and the 

scythe of the mower." 
Then with a pleasant smile made answer the jovial 

farmer : — 

Louisburg, a French town and fort on Cape Breton Island 
which was captured by Gen. Pepperell in 1745. 

Beau Sejour (pronounced bo se-zho6r). A French fort on a 
neck of land connecting Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It 
surrendered to the English under Gen. Winslow on June 12, 1755, 
a short time before the expulsion of the Acadians. Among the 
forces captured were 300 Acadians. 

Port Royal, a town on the northern coast of Nova Scotia, 
about 60 miles from Grand-Pre. It was founded by the French 
in 1604 and captured by the English in 1710. It is now known 
as Annapolis. 



34 EVANGELINE 

" Safer are we unarmed, in the midst of our flocks and 

our cornfields, 255 

Safer within these peaceful dikes besieged by the ocean, 
Than our fathers in forts, besieged by the enemy's 

cannon. 
Fear no evil, my friend, and to-night may no shadow of 

sorrow 
Fall on this house and hearth; for this is the night of 

the contract. 
Built are the house and the barn. The merry lads of 

the village 260 

Strongly have built them and well; and, breaking the 

glebe round about them, 
Filled the barn with hay, and the house with food for a 

twelve-month. 
Rene Leblanc will be here anon, with his papers and 

inkhorn. 
Shall we not then be glad, and rejoice in the joy of our 

children ?" 
As apart by the window she stood, with her hand in her 

lover's, 265 

Blushing Evangeline heard the words that her father 

had spoken, 
And, as they died on his lips, the worthy notary entered. 

Contract, the marriage contract between Gabriel and Evan- 
geline. 

Glebe, soil. Now specifically the cultivable land belonging 
to a parish or church. 

Rene Leblanc, the notary public of the village who attests 
contracts, deeds, and other legal documents. 



EVANGELINE 35 

III. 

Bent like a laboring oar, that toils in the surf of the 
ocean, 

Bent, but not broken, by age was the form of the notary 
pubUc; 

Shocks of yellow hair, like the silken floss of the maize, 
hung 270 

Over his shoulders; his forehead was high; and glasses 
with horn bows 

Sat astride on his nose, with a look of wisdom supernal. 

Father of twenty children was he, and more than a 
hundred 

Children's children rode on his knee, and heard his 
great watch tick. 

Four long years in the times of the war had he lan- 
guished a captive, 275 

Suffering much in an old French fort as the friend of 
the English. 

Now, though warier grown, without all guile or sus- 
picion. 

Ripe in wisdom was he, but patient, and simple, and 
childhke. 

He was beloved by all, and most of all by the children; 

For he told them tales of the Loup-garou in the forest, 

Supernal, more than human. 

Line 276, Rene Leblanc while in the English service had 
been captured and imprisoned by the French. 

Loup-garou (pronounced, lo6-ga-roo). A were-wolf. A man 
having the power to change himself into a wolf. 



36 EVANGELINE 

And of the goblin that came in the night to water the 

horses, 281 

And of the white Letiche, the ghost of a child who 

unchristened 
Died, and was doomed to haunt unseen the chambers 

of children; 
And how on Christmas eve the oxen talked in the stable, 
And how the fever was cured by a spider shut up in a 

nutshell, 285 

And of the marvellous powers of four-leaved clover and 

horseshoes. 
With whatsoever else was writ in the lore of the village. 
Then up rose from his seat by the fireside Basil the 

blacksmith. 
Knocked from his pipe the ashes, and slowly extending 

his right hand, 
" Father Leblanc," he exclaimed, '' thou hast heard the 

talk in the village, 290 

And, perchance, canst tell us some news of these ships 

and their errand." 
Then with modest demeanor made answer the notary 

pubhc, — 

Letiche (pronounced, la-tesh). The spirit of a child doomed 
to wander at night in the form of a small white animal. 

Line 284, there is an old Continental belief among the peas- 
antry that on Christmas eve the cattle talk and fall on their 
knees in worship of the infant Christ. 

Line 28."), a popular belief in some countries that a nutshell 
with a spider in it will cure a fever. 

Line 286, a fancy that a four-leaved clover will bring good for- 
tune to the person who finds it. 



EVANGELINE 37 

'' Gossip enough have I heard, in sooth, yet am never 

the wiser; 
And what their errand may be I know no better than 

others. 
Yet am I not of those who imagine some evil intention 
Brings them here, for we are at peace; and why then 

molest us?" 296 

'' God's name!" shouted the hasty and somewhat 

irascible blacksmith; 
'' Must we in all things look for the how, and the why, 

and the wherefore? 
Daily injustice is done, and might is the right of the 

strongest!" 
But, without heeding his warmth, continued the notary 

pubhc, — 300 

*' Man is unjust, but God is just; and finally justice 
Triumphs; and well I remember a story, that often 

consoled me, 
When as a captive I lay in the old French fort at Port 

Royal." 
This was the old man's favorite tale, and he loved to 

repeat it 
Whenever neighbors complained that any injustice was 

done them. 305 

" Once in an ancient city, whose name I no longer 

remember. 
Raised aloft on a column, a brazen statue of Justice 

Sooth, truth. 

An old Florentine story used as the theme of Rossini's opera, 
entitled La Gazza Ladra. 



38 EVANGELINE 

Stood in the public square, upholding the scales in its 
left hand, 

And in its right a sword, as an emblem that justice 
presided 

Over the laws of the land, and the hearts and homes of 
the people. 310 

Even the birds had built their nests in the scales of the 
balance, 

Having no fear of the sword that flashed in the sun- 
shine above them. 

But in the course of time the laws of the land were 
corrupted; 

Might took the place of right, and the weak were 
oppressed, and the mighty 

Ruled with an iron rod. Then it chanced in a noble- 
man's palace 315 

That a necklace of pearls was lost, and ere long a sus- 
picion 

Fell on an orphan girl who lived as maid in the house- 
hold. 

She, after form of trial condemned to die on the 
scaffold. 

Patiently met her doom at the foot of the statue of 
Justice. 

As to her Father in Heaven her innocent spirit as- 
cended, 320 

Lo! o'er the city a tempest rose; and the bolts of the 
thunder 

Why is "justice" represented with scales in its left hand and 
a sword in its right hand? 



EVANGELINE 39 

Smote the statue of bronze, and hurled in wrath from 

its left hand 
Down on the pavement below the clattering scales of 

the balance, 
And in the hollow thereof was found the nest of a magpie, 
Into whose clay-built walls the necklace of pearls was 

inwoven." 325 

Silenced, but not convinced, when the story was ended, 

the blacksmith 
Stood like a man who fain would speak, but findeth no 

language ; 
All his thoughts were congealed into lines on his face, 

as the vapors 
Freeze in fantastic shapes on the window-panes in the 

winter. 

Then Evangeline lighted the brazen lamp on the 
table, 330 

Filled, till it overflowed, the pewter tankard with home- 
brewed 

Nut-brown ale, that was famed for its strength in the 
village of Grand-Pre; 

While from his pocket the notary drew his papers and 
inkhorn. 

Wrote with a steady hand the date, and the age of the 
parties. 

Naming the dower of the bride in flocks of sheep and in 
cattle. 335 

Dower, the property which a woman brings to her husband at 
marriage. 



40 EVANGELINE 

Orderly all things proceeded, and duly and well were 

completed, 
And the great seal of the law was set like a sun on the 

margin. 
Then from his leathern pouch the farmer threw on the 

table 
Three times the old man's fee in solid pieces of silver; 
And the notary rising, and blessing the bride and bride- 
groom, 340 
Lifted aloft the tankard of ale and drank to their 

welfare. 
Wiping the foam from his lips he solemnly bowed and 

departed, 
While in silence the others sat and mused by the fireside, 
Till Evangeline brought the draught-board out of its 

corner. 
Soon was the game begun. In friendly contention the 

old men 345 

Laughed at each lucky hit, or unsuccessful manoeuvre. 
Laughed when a man was crowned, or a breach was 

made in the king-row. 
Meanwhile apart, in the twilight gloom of a window's 

embrasure, 

Seal, a small disk of paper attached to a document after the 
signature to make it binding in law. 

Draught-board, checker board. 

Embrasure, the enlargement of the aperture of a door or win- 
dow on the inside of a wall designed to give more room or admit 
light. 



EVANGELINE 41 

Sat the lovers and whispered together, beholding the 

moon rise 
Over the pallid sea and the silvery mist of the meadows. 
Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, 
Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the 

angels. 352 

Thus passed the evening away. Anon the bell 

from the belfry 
Rang out the hour of nine, the village curfew, and 

straightway 
Rose the guests and departed; and silence reigned in 

the household. 355 

Many a farewell word and sweet good-night on the 

door-step 
Lingered long in Evangeline's heart, and filled it with 

gladness. 
Carefully then were covered the embers that glowed on 

the hearth-stone, 
And on the oaken stairs resounded the tread of the 

farmer. 
Soon with a soundless step the foot of Evangeline 

followed. 360 

Name the figures of speech in linos 352 and 362. 

From the French: couvrc feu, cover fire. The ringing of a 
bell at an early hour (originally 8 o'clock) in the evening as a 
signal to the inhabitants of a town or village to extinguish their 
fires and lights and retire to rest. The custom was universal 
during the middle ages, and is said to have been introduced into 
England by William the Conqueror. " The curfew tolls the knell 
of parting day," Gray. 



42 EVANGELINE 

Up the staircase moved a luminous space in the 

darkness, 
Lighted less by the lamp than the shining face of the 

maiden. 
Silent she passed through the hall, and entered the 

door of her chamber. 
Simple that chamber was, with its curtains of white. 

and its clothes-press 
Ample and high, on whose spacious shelves were care- 
fully folded 365 
Linen and woolen stuffs, by the hand of Evangeline 

woven. 
This was the precious dower she would bring to her 

husband in marriage, 
Better than flocks and herds, being proofs of her skill 

as a houseAvife. 
Soon she extinguished her lamp, for the mellow and 

radiant moonlight 
Streamed through the windows, and lighted the room, 

till the heart of the maiden 370 

Swelled and obeyed its power, like the tremulous tides 

of the ocean. 
Ah! she was fair, exceeding fair to behold, as she stood 

with 
Naked snow-white feet on the gleaming floor of her 

chamber! 
Little she dreamed that below, among the trees of the 

orchard, 
Waited her lover and watched for the gleam of her 

lamp and her shadow. 375 



EVANGELINE 43 

Yet were her thoughts of him, and at times a feeUng of 

sadness 
Passed o'er her soul, as the saiHng shade of clouds in 

the moonlight 
Flitted across the floor and darkened the room for a 

moment. 
And, as she gazed from the window, she saw serenely 

the moon pass 
Forth from the folds of a cloud, and one star follow 

her footsteps, 380 

As out of Abraham's tent young Ishmael wandered 

with Hagar. 

IV 

Pleasantly rose next morn the sun on the village 

of Grand-Pro, 
Pleasantly gleamed in the soft, sweet air the Basin of 

Minas, 
Where the ships, with their wavering shadows, were 

riding at anchor. 
Life had long been astir in the village, and clamorous 

labor 385 

Knocked with its hundred hands at the golden gates 

of the morning. 
Now from the country around, from the farms and 

neighboring hamlets. 

Why ''tremulous tides"? Why "clamorous labor"? Select 
and name the best figures of speech. 

Hagar refers to Hagar with her son Ishmael who was driven 
out of Abraham's tent, Genesis xxi, 12, 21. 



44 EVANGELINE 

Came in their holiday dresses the bUthe Acadian 

peasants. 
Many a glad good-morrow and jocund laugh from the 

young folk 
Made the bright air brighter, as up from the numerous 

meadows, 390 

Where no path could be seen but the track of wheels 

in the greensward, 
Group after group appeared, and joined, or passed on 

the highway. 
Long ere noon, in the village all sounds of labor were 

silenced. 
Thronged were the streets with people; and noisy 

groups at the house-doors 
Sat in the cheerful sun, and rejoiced and gossiped to- 
gether. 395 
Every house was an inn, where all were welcomed and 

feasted ; 
For with this simple people, who lived like brothers 

together. 
All things were held in common, and what one had 

was another's. 
Yet under Benedict's roof hospitality seemed more 

abundant : 
For Evangeline stood among the guests of her father; 
Bright was her face with smiles, and words of welcome 

and gladness 401 

Fell from her beautiful lips, and blessed the cup as she 

gave it. 



EVANGELINE 45 

Under the open sky, in the odorous air of the orchard, 
Stript of its golden fruit, was spread the feast of 

betrothal. 
There in the shade of the porch were the priest and 

the notary seated; 405 

There good Benedict sat, and sturdy Basil the black- 
smith. 
Not far withdrawn from these, by the cider-press and 

the bee-hives, 
Michael the fiddler was placed, with the gayest of 

hearts and of waistcoats. 
Shadow and light from the leaves alternately played on 

his snow-white 
Hair as it waved in the wind, and the jolly face of the 

fiddler 410 

Glowed like a living coal when the ashes are blown 

from the embers. 
Gayly the old man sang to the vibrant sound of his 

fiddle, 
Tous les Bourgeois de Chartres, and Le Carillon de 

Dunkerque, 
And anon with his wooden shoes beat time to the 

music. 
Merrily, merrily whirled the wheels of the dizzying 

dances 415 

Betrothal, a French custom. 

Line 413 (pronounced, too la boorzhwa de shtirtr and Le kar-e- 
yohn de dim-kirk), popular French songs, "All the Citizens of 
Chartres" and "The Chimes of Dunkirk." 



46 EVANGELINE 

Under the orchard trees and down the path to the 

meadows ; 
Old folk and young together, and children mingled 

among them. 
Fairest of all the maids was Evangehne, Benedict's 

daughter! 
Noblest of all the youths was Gabriel, son of the 

blacksmith! 

So passed the morning away. And lo! with a 

summons sonorous 420 

Sounded the bell from its tower, and over the meadows 

a drum beat. 
Thronged ere long was the church with men. Without, 

in the churchyard. 
Waited the women. They stood by the graves, and 

hung on the headstones 
Garlands of autumn-leaves and evergreens fresh from 

the forest. 
Then came the guard from the ships, and marching 

proudly among them 425 

Entered the sacred portal. With loud and dissonant 

clangor 
Echoed the sound of their brazen drums from ceiling 

and casement, — 
Echoed a moment only, and slowly the ponderous 

portal 

Line 422, "In obedience to the summons, 418 men assembled." 
— Haliburton. 



EVANGELINE 47 

Closed, and in silence the crowd awaited the will of 

the soldiers. 
Then uprose their commander, and spake from the 

steps of the altar, 430 

Holding aloft in his hands, with its seals, the royal 

commission. 
'^ You are convened this day," he said, " by his 

Majesty's orders. 
Clement and kind has he been; but how you have 

answered his kindness 
Let your own hearts reply! To my natural make and 

my temper 
Painful the task is I do, which to you I know must 

be grievous. 435 

Yet must I bow and obey, and deliver the will of our 

monarch : 
Namely, that all your lands, and dwellings, and cattle 

of all kinds 
Forfeited be to the crown; and that you yourselves 

from this province 
Be transported to other lands. God grant you may 

dwell there 
Ever as faithful subjects, a happy and peaceable 

people! 440 

Line 430, Lieutenant-Colonel John Winslow of Marshfield, 
Massachusetts, great-grandson of Edward Winslow, one of the 
Pilgrim Fathers. 

Royal Commission, an order from the king. 

Line 432, see historical material, page 129. 



48 EVANGELINE 

Prisoners now I declare you, for such is his Majesty's 

pleasure!" 
As, when the air is serene in the sultry solstice of 

summer, 
Suddenly gathers a storm, and the deadly sling of the 

hailstones 
Beats down the farmer's corn in the field, and shatters 

his windows. 
Hiding the sun, and strewing the ground with thatch 

from the house-roofs, 445 

Bellowing fly the herds, and seek to break their en- 
closures; 
So on the hearts of the people descended the words of 

the speaker. 
Silent a moment they stood in speechless wonder, and 

then rose 
Louder and ever louder a wail of sorrow and anger, 
And, by one impulse moved, they madly rushed to the 

doorway. 450 

Vain was the hope of escape; and cries and fierce im- 
precations 
Rang through the house of prayer; and high o'er the 

heads of the others 
Rose, with his arms uplifted, the figure of Basil the 

blacksmith, 
As, on a stormy sea, a spar is tossed by the billows. 
Flushed was his face and distorted with passion; and 

wildly he shouted, — 455 

Solstice, June 21, when the sun is farthest from the equator. 



EVANGELINE 49 

^' Down with the tyrants of England! we never have 

sworn them allegiance! 
Death to these foreign soldiers, who seize on our homes 

and our harvests!" 
More he fain would have said, but the merciless hand of 

a soldier 
Smote him upon the mouth, and dragged him down to 

the pavement. 

In the midst of the strife and tumult of angry con- 
tention, 460 

Lo! the door of the chancel opened, and Father Felician 

Entered, with serious mien, and ascended the steps of 
the altar. 

Raising his reverend hand, with a gesture he awed into 
silence 

All that clamorous throng; and thus he spake to his 
people, 

Deep were his tones and solemn; in accents measured 
and mournful 465 

Spake he, as, after the tocsin's alarum, distinctly the 
clock strikes. 

" What is this that ye do, my children? what madness 
has seized you? 

Forty years of my Ufe have I labored among you, and 
taught you. 

Not in word alone, but in deed, to love one another! 

Line 456, see historical material, page 129. 
Tocsin, a signal bell. 



50 EVANGELINE 

Is this the fruit of my toils, of my vigils and prayers and 
privations? 470 

Have you so soon forgotten all lessons of love and for- 
giveness? 

This is the house of the Prince of Peace, and would you 
profane it 

Thus with violent deeds and hearts overflowing with 
hatred? 

Lo! where the crucified Christ from His cross is gazing 
upon you! 

See! in those sorrowful eyes what meekness and holy 
compassion! 475 

Hark! how those lips still repeat the prayer, ' O Father, 
forgive them!' 

Let us repeat that prayer in the hour when the wicked 
assail us, 

Let us repeat it now, and say, ' O Father, forgive 
them!' " 

Few were his words of rebuke, but deep in the hearts of 
his people 

Sank they, and sobs of contrition succeeded the pas- 
sionate outbreak, 480 

While they repeated his prayer, and said, " O Father, 
forgive them!" 

Then came the evening service. The tapers gleamed 

from the altar; 
Fervent and deep was the voice of the priest, and the 

people responded. 
Line 476, see Luke xxin, 34. 



EVANGELINE 51 

Not with their Hps alone, but their hearts; and the 

Ave Maria 
Sang they, and fell on their knees, and their souls, with 

devotion translated, 485 

Rose on the ardor of prayer, like Elijah ascending to 

heaven. 

Meanwhile had spread in the village the tidings of ill, 

and on all sides 
Wandered, wailing, from house to house the women and 

children. 
Long at her father's door Evangeline stood, with her 

right hand 
Shielding her eyes from the level rays of the sun, that, 

descending, 490 

Lighted the village street with mysterious splendor, and 

roofed each 
Peasant's cottage with golden thatch, and emblazoned 

its windows. 
Long within had been spread the snow-white cloth on 

the table; 
There stood the wheaten loaf, and the honey fragrant 

with wild flowers; 
There stood the tankard of ale, and the cheese fresh 

brought from the dairy; 495 

And at the head of the board the great arm-chair of the 

farmer. 

Ave Maria, Latin for "Hail Mary," the first words of a prayer 
said in the Roman Catholic Church. 
Elijah, see 2 Kings ii, 11. 



52 EVANGELINE 

Thus did Evangeline wait at her father's door, as the 
sunset 

Threw the long shadows of trees o'er the broad am- 
brosial meadows. 

Ah! on her spirit within a deeper shadow had fallen, 

And from the fields of her soul a fragrance celestial 
ascended, — 500 

Charity, meekness, love, and hope, and forgiveness, and 
patience! 

Then, all forgetful of self, she wandered into the village. 

Cheering with looks and words the disconsolate hearts 
of the women, 

As o'er the darkening fields with lingering steps they de- 
parted, 

Urged by their household cares, and the weary feet of 
their children. 505 

Down sank the great red sun, and in golden, glimmering 
vapors 

Veiled the light of his face, like the Prophet descending 
from Sinai. 

Sweetly over the village the bell of the Angelus sounded. 

Meanwhile, amid the gloom, by the church Evan- 
geline lingered. 
All was silent within; and in vain at the door and the 
windows 510 

Ambrosial, delighting the taste or smell. Ambrosial is formed 
from the noun ambrosia, meaning the food of the gods. 

Prophet, Moses. See Exodus xxxiv, 29-35. 



EVANGELINE 53 

Stood she, and listened and looked, until, overcome by 

emotion, 
'^ Gabriel!" cried she aloud with tremulous voice; but 

no answer 
Came from the graves of the dead, nor the gloomier 

grave of the living. 
Slowly at length she returned to the tenantless house 

of her father. 
Smouldered the fire on the hearth, on the board was the 

supper untasted, 515 

Empty and drear was each room, and haunted with 

phantoms of terror. 
Sadly echoed her step on the stair and the floor of her 

chamber. 
In the dead of the night she heard the disconsolate 

rain fall 
Loud on the withered leaves of the sycamore-tree by 

the window. 
Keenly the lightning flashed; and the voice of the 

echoing thunder 520 

Told her that God was in heaven, and governed the 

world He created! 
Then she remembered the tale she had heard of the 

justice of Heaven; 
Soothed was her troubled soul, and she peacefully 

slumbered till morning. 

What is meant by 'Hhe gloomier grave of the living"? 



EVANGELINE 55 

V. 

Four times the sun had risen and set ; and now on the 

fifth day 
Cheerily called the cock to the sleeping maids of the 

farmhouse. 525 

Soon o'er the yellow fields, in silent and mournful pro- 
cession, 
Came from the neighboring hamlets and farms the 

Acadian women. 
Driving in ponderous wains their household goods to 

the seashore, 
Pausing and looking back to gaze once more on their 

dwellings, 
Ere they were shut from sight by the winding road and 

the woodland. 530 

Close at their sides their children ran, and urged on the 

oxen, 
While in their httle hands they clasped some fragments 

of playthings. 

Thus to the Gaspereaux' mouth they hurried: and 
there on the sea-beach 
Piled in confusion lay the household goods of the 

peasants. 
All day long between the shore and the ships did the 
boats ply; 535 

All day long the wains came laboring down from the 
village. 
Line 524, September 10, 1755. 



56 EVANGELINE 

Late in the afternoon, when the sun was near to his 

setting, 
Echoing far o'er the fields came the roll of drums from 

the churchyard. 
Thither the women and children thronged. On a 

sudden the church-doors 
Opened, and forth came the guard, and marching in 

gloomy procession 540 

Followed the long-imprisoned, but patient, Acadian 

farmers. 
Even as pilgrims, who journeyed afar from their homes 

and their country, 
Sing as they go, and in singing forget they are weary 

and way-worn ; 
So with songs on their lips the Acadian peasants 

descended 
Down from the church to the shore, amid their wives 

and their daughters. 545 

Foremost the young men came; and, raising together 

their voices, 
Sang with tremulous lips a chant of the Catholic 

Missions : — 
" Sacred heart of the Saviour! O inexhaustible 

fountain! 
Fill our hearts this day with strength and submission 

and patience! " 
Then the old men as they marched, and the women 

that stood by the wayside 550 

Line 545, see notes, page 136. 



EVANGELINE 57 

Joined in the sacred psalm, and the birds in the sun- 
shine above them 

Mingled their notes therewith, like voices of spirits 
departed. 

Halfway down to the shore Evangeline waited in 

silence. 
Not overcome with grief, but strong in the hour of 

affliction, — 
Calmly and sadly she waited, until the procession 

approached her, 555 

And she beheld the face of Gabriel pale with emotion. 
Tears then filled her eyes, and, eagerly running to 

meet him. 
Clasped she his hands, and laid her head on his shoulder, 

and whispered, — 
'' Gabriel! be of good cheer! for if we love one an- 
other 
Nothing, in truth, can harm us, whatever mischances 

may happen!" 560 

Smihng she spake these words; then suddenly paused, 

for her father 
Saw she, slowly advancing. Alas! how changed was 

his aspect! 
Gone was the glow from his cheek, and the fire from 

his eye, and his footstep 
Heavier seemed with the weight of the heavy heart in 

his bosom. 
But with a smile and a sigh, she clasped his neck and 

embraced him, . 565 



58 EVANGELINE 

Speaking words of endearment where words of comfort 
availed not. 

Thus to the Gaspereau's mouth moved on that mourn- 
ful procession. 

There disorder prevailed, and the tumult and stir 
of embarking. 

Busily plied the freighted boats; and in the con- 
fusion 

Wives were torn from their husbands, and mothers, 
too late, saw their children 570 

Left on the land, extending their arms, with wildest 
entreaties. 

So unto separate ships were Basil and Gabriel carried, 

While in despair on the shore Evangeline stood with 
her father. 

Half the task was not done when the sun went down, 
and the twilight 

Deepened and darkened around; and in haste the re- 
fluent ocean 575 

Fled away from the shore, and left the line of the 
sand-beach 

Covered with waifs of the tide, with kelp and the 
slippery sea-weed. 

Farther back in the midst of the household goods and 
the wagons. 

Like to a gypsy camp, or a league!* after a battle, 

Refluent, flowing back, ebbing. 
Leaguer, camp of an army. 



EVANGELINE 59 

All escape cut off by the sea, and the sentinels near them 
Lay encamped for the night the houseless Acadian 

farmers. 581 

Back to its nethermost caves retreated the bellowing 

ocean, 
Dragging adown the beach the rattling pebbles, and 

leaving 
Inland and far up the shore the stranded boats of the 

sailors. 
Then, as the night descended, the herds returned from 

their pastures; 585 

Sweet was the moist still air with the odor of milk from 

their udders; 
Lowing they waited, and long, at the well-known bars 

of the farm-yard, — 
Waited and looked in vain for the voice and the hand of 

the milkmaid. 
Silence reigned in the streets; from the church no An- 

gelus sounded. 
Rose no smoke from the roofs, and gleamed no lights 

from the windows. 590 

But on the shores meanwhile the evening fires had 
been kindled, 

Built of the drift-wood thrown on the sands from 
wrecks in the tempest. 

Round them shapes of gloom and sorrowful faces were 
gathered. 

Voices of women were heard, and of men, and the cry- 
ing of children. 



60 EVANGELINE 

Onward from fire to fire, as from hearth to hearth iii 

his parish, 595 

Wandered the faithful priest, consoHng and blessing and 

cheering, 
Like unto shipwrecked Paul on Melita's desolate 

seashore. 
Thus he approached the place where Evangeline sat 

with her father. 
And in the flickering light beheld the face of the old 

man, 
Haggard and hollow and wan, and without either 

thought or emotion, 600 

E'en as the face of a clock from which the hands have 

been taken. 
Vainly Evangeline strove with words and caresses to 

cheer him. 
Vainly offered him food; yet he moved not, he looked 

not, he spake not. 
But, with a vacant stare, ever gazed at the flickering 

firelight. 
^' Benedicite!" murmured the priest, in tones of com- 
passion. 605 
More he fain would have said, but his heart was full, 

and his accents 
Faltered and paused on his lips, as the feet of a child 

on a threshold, 

Paul, see Acts xxvii, xxviii. 

Benedicite, a salutation used by the Roman priests, meaning 
"God bless you." 



EVANGELINE 61 

Hushed by the scene he beholds, and the awful presence 

of sorrow. 
Silently, therefore, he laid his hand on the head of the 

maiden, 
Raising his tearful eyes to the silent stars that above 

them 610 

Moved on their way, unperturbed by the wrongs and 

sorrows of mortals. 
Then sat he down at her side, and they wept together 

in silence. 



Suddenly rose from the south a light, as in autumn 

the blood-red 
Moon climbs the crystal walls of heaven, and o'er the 

horizon 
Titan-like stretches its hundred hands upon mountain 

and meadow, 615 

Seizing the rocks and the rivers, and piling huge 

shadows together. 
Broader and ever broader it gleamed on the roofs of 

the village. 
Gleamed on the sky and the sea, and the ships that lay 

in the roadstead. 
Columns of shining smoke uprose, and flashes of flame 

were 
Thrust through their folds and withdrawn, like the 

quivering hands of a martyr. 620 

Titan-like, giant-like. 



62 EVANGELINE 

Then as the wind seized the gleeds and the burning 
thatch, and, uphfting. 

Whirled them aloft through the air, at once from a 
hundred house-tops 

Started the sheeted smoke with flashes of flame inter- 
mingled. 

These things beheld in dismay the crowd on the 

shore and on shipboard. 
Speechless at first they stood, then cried aloud in their 

anguish, 625 

'' We shall behold no more our homes in the Village of 

Grand-Pre!" 
Loud on a sudden the cocks began to crow in the 

farmyards, 
Thinking the day had dawned; and anon the lowing of 

cattle 
Came on the evening l^reeze, by the barking of dogs 

interrupted. 
Then rose a sound of dread, such as startles the sleep- 
ing encampments 630 
Far in the western prairies of forests that skirt the 

Nebraska, 
When the wild horses affrighted sweep by with the 

speed of the whirlwind, 

Gleeds, hot burning coals. 
See historical material, page 129. 

The destruction of the village took place between the 5th and 
10th. 

Nebraska, the Platte River is sometimes called the Nebraska. 



EVANGELINE 63 

Or the loud bellowing herds of buffaloes rush to the 

river. 
Such was the sound that arose on the night, as the 

herds and the horses 
Broke through their folds and fences, and madly rushed 

o'er the meadows. 635 

Overwhelmed with the sight, yet speechless, the priest 

and the maiden 
Gazed on the scene of terror that reddened and widened 

before them; 
And as they turned at length to speak to their silent 

companion, 
Lo! from his seat he had fallen, and stretched abroad 

on the seashore 
Motionless lay his form, from which tlie soul had 

departed. 640 

Slowly the priest uplifted the lifeless head, and the 

maiden 
Knelt at her father's side, and wailed aloud in her 

terror. 
Then in a swoon she sank, and lay with her head on 

his bosom. 
Through the long night she lay in deep, oblivious 

slumber ; 
And when she woke from the trance, she beheld a 

multitude near her. ^645 

Faces of friends she beheld, that were mournfully 

gazing upon her, 
Pallid with tearful eyes, and looks of saddest com- 
passion. 



64 EVANGELINE 

Still the blaze of the burning village illumined the 

landscape, 
Reddened the sky overhead, and gleamed on the faces 

around her. 
And like the day of doom it seemed to her wavering 

senses. 650 

Then a famihar voice she heard, as it said to the 

people, — 
'' Let us bury him here by the sea. When a happier 

season 
Brings us again to our homes from the unknown land 

of our exile, 
Then shall his sacred dust be piously laid in the church- 
yard." 
Such were the words of the priest. And there in haste 

by the sea-side, 655 

Having the glare of the burning village for funeral 

torches, 
But without bell or book, they buried the farmer of 

Grand-Pre. 
And as the voice of the priest repeated the service of 

sorrow, 
Lo! with a mournful sound like the voice of a vast 

congregation, 
Solemnly answered the sea, and mingled its roar with 

the dirges. 660 

Line 657, no bell to toll the knell and no book from which to 
read the services of the dead. 

Dirge, a funeral hymn; a song expressing grief, lamentation, 
and mourning. 



EVANGEIJyE 65 

'Twas the returning tide, that afar from the waste of 

the ocean, 
With the first dawn of the day, came heaving and 

hurrying landward. 
Then recommenced once more the stir and noise of 

embarking; 
And with the ebb of the tide the ships sailed out of the 

harbor. 
Leaving behind them the dead on the shore, and the 

village in ruins. 665 



PART THE SECOND 
I 

Many a weary year had passed since the burning of 

Grand-Pre, 
When on the falling tide the freighted vessels departed, 
Bearing a nation, with all its household gods, into 

exile, 
Exile without an end, and without an example in story. 
Far asunder, on separate coasts, the Acadians landed; 
Scattered were they, Hke flakes of snow, when the wind 

from the northeast 671 

Strikes aslant through the fogs that darken the Banks 

of Newfoundland. 
Friendless, homeless, hopeless, they wandered from 

city to city, 
From the cold lakes of the North to sultry Southern 

savannas, 
From the bleak shores of the sea to the lands where the 

Father of Waters 675 

Banks, shallow part of the Atlantic Ocean bordering on New- 
foundland. 

Savanna, a treeless plain. 

Father of Waters, the Mississippi. 
66 



EVANGELINE 67 

Seizes the hills in his hands, and drags them down to 

the ocean, 
Deep in their sands to bury the scattered bones of the 

mammoth. 
Friends they sought and homes; and many, despairing, 

heart-broken. 
Asked of the earth but a grave, and no longer a friend 

nor a fireside. 
Written their history stands on tablets of stone in the 

churchyards. 680 

Long among them was seen a maiden who waited and 

w^andered. 
Lowly and meek in spirit, and patiently suffering all 

things. 
Fair was she and young; but, alas! before her extended, 
Dreary and vast and silent, the desert of life, with its 

pathway 
Marked by the graves of those who had sorrowed and 

suffered before her, 685 

Passions long extinguished, and hopes long dead and 

abandoned, 
As the emigrant's way o'er the Western desert is marked 

by 
Camp-fires long consumed, and bones that bleach in the 

sunshine. 
Something there was in her life incomplete, imperfect, 

unfinished ; 

Line 677 refers to the formation of the delta at the mouth of the 
Mississippi. 
Mammoth, an extinct species of elephant. 



68 EVANGELINE 

As if a morning of June, with all its music and sun- 
shine, 690 

Suddenly paused in the sky, and, fading, slowly des- 
cended 

Into the east again, from whence it late had arisen. 

Sometimes she lingered in towns, till, urged by the 
fever within her. 

Urged by a restless longing, the hunger and thirst of 
the spirit. 

She would commence again her endless search and 
endeavor; 695 

Sometimes in churchyards strayed, and gazed on the 
crosses and tombstones. 

Sat by some nameless grave, and thought that perhaps 
in its bosom 

He was already at rest, and she longed to slumber 
beside him. 

Sometimes a rumor, a hearsay, an inarticulate whisper, 

Came with its airy hand to point and beckon her 
forward. 700 

Sometimes she spake with those who had seen her be- 
loved and known him. 

But it was long ago, in some far-off place or for- 
gotten. 

" Gabriel Lajeunesse!" they said; " Oh, yes! we have 
seen him. 

He was with Basil the blacksmith, and both have gone 
to the prairies; 

Give a reason for Evangeline straying in churchyards. 



EVANGELINE 69 

Coureurs-des-bois are they, and famous hunters and 

trappers." 705 

" Gabriel Lajeunesse!" said others; " Oh, yes! we 

have seen him. 
He is a voyageur in the lowlands of Louisiana." 
Then would they say, " Dear child! why dream and 

wait for him longer? 
Are there not other youths as fair as Gabriel? others 
Who have hearts as tender and true, and spirits as 

loyal? 710 

Here is Baptiste Leblanc, the notary's son, who has 

loved thee 
Many a tedious year; come, give him thy hand and be 

happy! 
Thou art too fair to be left to braid St. Catherine's 

tresses." 
Then would Evangeline answer, serenely but sadly, '^I 

cannot! 
Whither my heart has gone, there follows my hand, and 

not elsewhere. 715 

For when the heart goes before, like a lamp, and il- 
lumines the pathway, 

Coureurs-des-bois (pronounced koo-rtir-da-bwa) . The lit- 
eral meaning is "runners through the woods." They were French 
guides who conducted the fur traders through the woods. 

Voyageur, a class of men in the employ of the Hudson Bay 
Company who transported goods by rivers into Canada. 

St. Catherine is the patron saint of virgins, who was martyred 
A. D. 307 under the Roman Emperor Maximillian. This French 
proverb means to lead a life of celibacy. 



70 EVANGELINE 

Many things are made clear, that else lie hidden in 

darkness." 
Thereupon the priest, her friend and father con- 
fessor. 
Said, with a smile, " daughter! thy God thus speaketh 

within thee! 
Talk not of wasted affection, affection never was 

wasted ; 720 

If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters, return- 
ing 
Back to their springs, like the rain, shall fill them full 

of refreshment; 
That which the fountain sends forth returns again to 

the fountain. 
Patience; accomplish thy labor; accomplish thy work 

of affection! 
Sorrow and silence are strong, and patient endurance 

is godlike. 725 

Therefore accomplish thy labor of love, till the heart is 

made godlike. 
Purified, strengthened, perfected, and rendered more 

worthy of heaven!" 
Cheered by the good man's words, Evangeline labored 

and waited. 
Still in her heart she heard the funeral dirge of the 

ocean. 
But with its sound there was mingled a voice that 

whispered, " Despair not!" 730 

Thus did that poor soul wander in want and cheerless 

discomfort, 



EVANGELINE 71 

Bleeding, barefooted, over the shards and thorns of 

existence. 
Let me essay, Muse! to follow the wanderer's foot- 
steps; — 
Not through each devious path, each changeful year 

of existence; 
But as a traveller follows a streamlet's course through 

the valley: 735 

Far from its margin at times, and seeing the gleam of its 

water 
Here and there, in some open space, and at intervals 

only; 
Then drawing nearer its banks, through sylvan glooms 

that conceal it. 
Though he behold it not, he can hear its continuous 

murmur ; 
Happy, at length, if he find a spot where it reaches an 

outlet. 740 

What relation has this canto to part second? In what way 
docs this canto state the moral of the poem? 

Shards, pieces or fragments, as of earthen vessels; here mean- 
ing troubles of life. 

Muse, the goddess of song or poetry. 



72 EVANGELINE 

II 

It was the month of May. Far down the Beautiful 
River, 

Past the Ohio shore and past the mouth of the Wabash, 

Into the golden stream of the broad and swift Mis- 
sissippi, 

Floated a cumbrous boat, that was rowed by Acadian 
boatmen. 

It was a band of exiles: a raft, as it were, from the 
shipwrecked 745 

Nation, scattered along the coast, now floating together, 

Bound by the bonds of a common belief and a common 
misfortune; 

Men and women and children, who, guided by hope or 
by hearsay. 

Sought for their kith and their kin among the few- 
acred farmers 

On the Acadian coast, and the prairies of fair Ope- 
lousas. 750 

Line 741, the Ohio, which means ''beautiful river." 

Wabash, a tributary to the Ohio River. 

Kith and Kin, kith is now obsolete except in this phrase: it 
means one's own people and kindred. 

Line 750, in 1765 over 600 Acadians sought their kith and kin 
in Louisiana and founded settlements at Attakapas and Opelousas 
and later extended their settlements on both sides of the Missis- 
sippi as far as Baton Rouge. 

Opelousas, a section of Louisiana directly west from Baton 
Rouge. See map on page 138 



EVANGELiyE 73 

With them Evangehne went, and her guide, the Father 

FeHcian. 
Onward o'er sunken sands, through a wilderness sombre 

with forests, 
Day after day they ghded adown the turbulent river; 
Night after night, by their blazing fires, encamped on 

its borders. 
Now through rushing chutes, among green islands, 

where plumelike 755 

Cotton-trees nodded their shadowy crests, they swept 

with the current, 
Then emerged into broad lagoons, where silvery 

sandbars 
Lay in the stream and along the wimp ling waves of 

their margin, 
Shining with snow-white plumes, large flocks of 

pelicans waded. 
Level the landscape grew, and along the shores of the 

river, 760 

Shaded by China-trees, in the midst of luxuriant 

gardens. 
Stood the houses of planters, with negro cabins and 

dove-cots. 
They were approaching the region where reigns per- 
petual summer. 
Lagoon, an area of shallow water bordering on the sea and 
usually separated from the region of deeper water by a belt of 
sand, 

WiMPLiNG, rippling. 

China-tree, an evergreen-tree bearing red berries, used as a 
substitute for soap. 



74 EVANGELINE 

Where through the Golden Coast, and groves of orange 

and citron, 
Sweeps with majestic curve the river away to the east- 
ward. 765 
They, too, swerved from their course ; and, entering the 

Bayou of Plaquemine, 
Soon were lost in a maze of sluggish and devious 

waters. 
Which, like a network of steel, extended in every 

direction. 
Over the heads the towering and tenebrous boughs of 

the cypress 
Met in a dusky arch, and trailing mosses in mid-air 770 
Waved like banners that hang on the walls of ancient 

cathedrals, 
"deathlike the silence seemed, and unbroken, save by 

the herons 
Home to their roosts in the cedar-trees returning at 

sunset. 
Or by the owl, as he greeted the moon with demoniac 

laughter. 
Lovely the moonlight was as it glanced and gleamed on 

the water, 775 

Gleamed on the columns of cypress and cedar sus- 
taining the arches, 
Down through whose broken vaults it fell as through 

chinks in a ruin. 

Golden Coast, southern section of Louisiana. 
Bayou or Plaquemine, see map on page 138. 
Tenebrous, dark, gloomy. 



I 



EVANGELINE 75 

Dream-like, and indistinct, and strange were all things 

around them; 
And o'er their spirits there came a feeling of wonder 

and sadness, — 
Strange forebodings of ill, unseen and that cannot be 

compassed. 780 

As, at the tramp of a horse's hoof on the turf of the 

prairies, 
Far in advance are closed the leaves of the shrinking 

mimosa, 
So, at the hoof-beats of fate, with sad forebodings of 

evil. 
Shrinks and closes the heart, ere the stroke of doom 

has attained it. 
But Evangeline's heart was sustained by a vision, 

that faintly 785 

Floated before her eyes, and beckoned her on through 

the moonlight. 
It was the thought of her brain that assumed the shape 

of a phantom. 
Through those shadowy aisles had Gabriel wandered 

before her. 
And every stroke of the oar now brought him nearer 

and nearer. 

Then in his place, at the prow of the boat, rose one 

of the oarsmen, 790 

And, as a signal sound, if others like them peradventure 

Mimosa, the sensitive plant. 



76 EVANGELINE 

Sailed on those gloomy and midnight streams, blew a 

blast on his bugle. 
Wild through the dark colonnades and corridors leafy 

the blast rang, 
Breaking the seal of silence and giving tongues to the 

forest. 
Soundless above them the banners of moss just stirred 

to the music. 795 

Multitudinous echoes awoke and died in the distance, 
Over the watery floor, and beneath the reverberant 

branches ; 
But not a voice replied; no answer came from the 

darkness; 
And when the echoes had ceased, like a sense of pain 

was the silence. 
Then Evangeline slept ; but the boatmen rowed through 

the midnight, 800 

Silent at times, then singing familiar Canadian boat- 
songs, 
Such as they sang of old on their own Acadian rivers, 
And through the night were heard the mysterious 

sounds of the desert. 
Far off, indistinct, as of wave or wind in the forest. 
Mixed with the whoop of the crane and the roar of the 

grim alligator. 805 



What is meant by "colonnades and corridors"? How did the 
blast of the bugle give tongues to the forest? Why was the silence 
painful? What figure of speech is involved in the words "awoke 
and died"? 



EVANGELINE 77 

Thus ere another noon they emerged from the shades 

and before them 
Lay, in the golden smi, the lakes of the Atchafalaya. 
Water-lilies in myriads rocked on the slight undulations 
Made by the passing oars, and, resplendent in beauty, 

the lotus 
Lifted her golden crown above the heads of the boat- 
men. 810 
Faint was the air with the odorous breath of magnolia 

blossoms, 
And with the heat of noon; and numberless sylvan 

islands, 
Fragrant and thickly embowered with blossoming 

hedges of roses, 
Near to whose shores they glided along, invited to 

slumber. 
Soon by the fairest of these their weary oars were 

suspended. 815 

Under the boughs of Wachita willows, that grew by 

the margin. 
Safely their boat was moored; and scattered about 

on the greensward, 
Tired with their midnight toil, the weary travellers 

slumbered. 

Atchafalaya, see map on page 138. 
Lotus, a water-plant bearing a beautiful flower. 
Sylvan, wooded, 

Wachita refers to willows growing on the banks of the Oua- 
chita river. 



78 EVANGELINE 

Over them vast and high extended the cope of a cedar. 
Swinging from its great arms, the trumpet-flower and 

the grape-vine 820 

Hung their ladder of ropes aloft like the ladder of 

Jacob, 
On whose pendulous stairs the angels ascending, de- 
scending. 
Were the swift humming-birds, that flitted from 

blossom to blossom. 
Such was the vision Evangeline saw as she slumbered 

beneath it. 
Filled was her heart with love, and the dawn of an 

opening heaven 825 

Lighted her soul in sleep with the glory of regions 

celestial. 

Nearer, ever nearer, among the numberless islands, 
Darted a light, swift boat, that sped away o'er the 

water, 
Urged on its course by the sinewy arms of hunters and 

trappers. 
Northward its prow was turned, to the land of the bison 

and beaver. 830 

At the helm sat a youth, with countenance thoughtful 

and careworn. 
Dark and neglected locks overshadowed his brow, and 

a sadness 

Cope, covering. 

Line 821, read Genesis xxviii, 10, 12. 



EVANGELINE 79 

Somewhat beyond his years on his face was legibly 

written. 
Gabriel was it, who, weary with waiting, unhappy and 

restless, 
Sought in the Western wilds oblivion of self and of 

sorrow. 835 

Swiftly they glided along, close under the lee of the 

island, 
But by the opposite bank, and behind a screen of 

palmettos; 
So that they saw not the boat, where it lay concealed in 

the willows; 
All undisturbed by the dash of their oars, and unseen, 

were the sleepers; 
Angel of God was there none to awaken the slumbering 

maiden. 840 

Swiftly they glided away, like the shade of a cloud on 

the prairie. 
After the sound of their oars on the tholes had died 

in the distance, 
As from a magic trance the sleepers awoke, and the 

maiden 
Said with a sigh to the friendly priest, " O Father 

FeUcian! 
Something says in my heart that near me Gabriel 

wanders. 845 

Is it a foolish dream, an idle and vague superstition? 
Or has an angel passed, and revealed the truth to my 

spirit?" 
Tholes, pins set up in the rim of a boat to serve as oarlocks. 



80 EVANGELINE 

Then, with a blush, she added, ''Alas for my credulous 

fancy! 
Unto ears like thine such words as these have no 

meaning." 
But made answer the reverend man, and he smiled 

as he answered, — , 850 

" Daughter, they words are not idle; nor are they to me 

without meaning, 
Feeling is deep and still; and the word that floats on 

the surface 
Is as the tossing buoy, that betrays where the anchor 

is hidden. 
Therefore trust to thy heart, and to what the world 

calls illusions. 
Gabriel truly is near thee; for not far away to the 

southward, 855 

On the banks of the Teche, are the towns of St. Maur 

and St. Martin, 
There the long-wandering bride shall be given again to 

her bridegroom. 
There the long-absent pastor regain his flock and his 

sheepfold. 
Beautiful is the land, with its prairies and forests 

of fruit-trees; 
Under the feet a garden of flowers, and the bluest of 

heavens 860 

Bending above and resting its dome on the walls of 

the forest. 

Teche (pronounced tesh), a bayou in Louisiana. 



EVANGELINE 81 

They who dwell there have named it the Eden of 
Louisiana." 

With these words of cheer they arose and continued 

their journey. 
Softly the evening came. The sun from the western 

horizon 
Like a magician extended his golden wand o'er the land- 
scape; 865 
Twinkling vapors arose; and sky and water and forest 
Seemed all on fire at the touch, and melted and mingled 

together. 
Hanging between two skies, a cloud with edges of 

silver. 
Floated the boat, with its dripping oars, on the motion- 
less water. 
Filled was Evangeline's heart with inexpressible 

sweetness. 870 

Touched by the magic spell, the sacred fountains of 

feeling 
Glowed with the light of love, as the skies and waters 

around her. 
Then from a neighboring thicket the mocking-bird, 

wildest of singers, 
vSwinging aloft on a willow spray that hung o'er the 

water, 
Shook from his little throat such floods of delirious 

music, 875 

That the whole air and the woods and the waves 

seemed silent to listen. 



82 EVANGELINE 

Plaintive at first were the tones and sad; then soaring 
to madness 

Seemed they to follow or guide the revel of frenzied 
Bacchantes. 

Single notes were then heard, in sorrowful, low lamen- 
tation ; 

Till, having gathered them all, he flung them abroad in 
derision, 880 

As when, after a storm, a gust of wind through the 
tree-tops 

Shakes down the rattling rain in a crystal shower 
on the branches. 

With such a prelude as this, and hearts that throbbed 
with emotion, 

Slowly they entered the Teche, where it flows ^through 
the green Opelousas, 

And, through the amber air, above the crest of the 
woodland, 885 

Saw the column of smoke that arose from a neighbor- 
ing dwelling; — 

Sounds of a horn they heard, and the distant lowing 
of cattle. 



Ill 



Near to the bank of the river, o'ershadowed by 
oaks from whose branches 

Bacchus was the god of wine. Women who took part in wild 
dances and song in honor of Bacchus were called Bacchantes. 



EVANGELINE 83 

Garlands of Spanish moss and of mystic mistletoe 

flaunted, 
Such as the Druids cut down with golden hatchets at 

Yuletide, 890 

Stood, secluded and still, the house of the herdsman. 

A garden 
Girded it round about with a belt of luxuriant blossoms, 
Filling the air with fragrance. The house itself was 

of timbers 
Hewn from the cypress-tree, and carefully fitted 

together. 
Large and low was the roof ; and on slender columns sup- 
ported, 895 
Rose-wreathed, vine-encircled, a broad and spacious 

veranda, 
Haunt of the humming-bird and the bee, extended 

around it. 
At each end of the house, amid the flowers of the 

garden. 
Stationed the dove-cots were, as love's perpetual 

symbol, 

Spanish Moss, see lines 1 and 2 of the prelude. 

Mistletoe, an evergreen plant that grows sometimes, but rarely, 
on the oak and other trees. The mistletoe was intimately con- 
nected with many of the superstitions of the ancient Germans 
and of the British Druids. When it was found upon an oak, it 
was cut down with a golden sickle with great ceremony by a white- 
robed priest. Another priest, standing on the ground, received it 
in the folds of his white robe. 

Yule-tide, Christmas-tide. 



*■ 5dte*5 



EVANGELINE 85 

Scenes of endless wooing, and endless contentions of 

rivals. 900 

Silence reigned o'er the place. The line of shadow 

and sunshine 
Ran near the tops of the trees ; but the house itself was 

in shadow, 
And from its chimney-top, ascending and slowly 

expanding 
Into the evening air, a thin blue column of smoke 

rose. 
In the rear of the house, from the garden gate, ran a 

pathway 905 

Through the great groves of oak to the skirts of the 

limitless prairie, 
Into whose sea of flowers the sun was slowly descending. 
Full in his track of light, like ships with shadowy 

canvas 
Hanging loose from their spars in' a motionless calm in 

the tropics, 
Stood a cluster of trees, with tangled cordage of grape- 
vines. 910 

Just where the woodlands met the flowery surf of the 

prairie. 
Mounted upon his horse, with Spanish saddle and 

stirrups, 
Sat a herdsman, arrayed in gaiters and doublet of 

deerskin. 
Broad and brown was the face that from under the 

Spanish sombrero 



86 EVANGELINE 

Gazed on the peaceful scene^ with the lordly look of 
its master. 915 

Round about him were numberless herds of kine that 
were grazing 

Quietly in the meadows, and breathing the vapory 
freshness 

That uprose from the river, and spread itself over the 
landscape. 

Slowly lifting the horn that hung at his side, and ex- 
panding 

Fully his broad deep chest, he blew a blast, that 
resounded 920 

Wildly and sweet and far, through the still damp air 
of the evening. 

Suddenly out of the grass the long white horns of the 
cattle 

Rose like flakes of foam on the adverse currents of 
ocean. 

Silent a moment they gazed, then bellowing rushed 
o'er the prairie, 

And the whole mass became a cloud, a shade in the 
distance. 925 

Then, as the herdsman turned to the house, through 
the gate of the garden 

Saw he the forms of the priest and the maiden advanc- 
ing to meet him. 

Suddenly down from his horse he sprang in amazement, 
and forward 

Pushed with extended arms and exclamations of won- 
der; 



EVANGELINE 87 

When they beheld his face, they recognized Basil the 

blacksmith. 930 

Hearty his welcome was, as he led his guests to the 

garden. 
There in an arbor of roses with endless question and 

answer 
Gave they vent to their hearts, and renewed their 

friendly embraces, 
Laughing and weeping by turns, or sitting silent and 

thoughtful. 
Thoughtful, for Gabriel came not; and now dark doubts 

and misgivings 935 

Stole o'er the maiden's heart; and Basil, somewhat 

embarrassed. 
Broke the silence and said, " If you came by the 

Atchafalaya, 
How have you nowhere encountered my Gal^riel's boat 

on the bayous?" 
Over Evangeline's face at the words of Basil a shade 

passed. 
Tears came into her eyes, and she said, with a tremu- 
lous accent, 940 
" Gone? is Gabriel gone?" and, conceahng her face on 

his shoulder, 
All her o'erburdened heart gave way, and she wept 

and lamented. 
Then the good Basil said, — and his voice grew blithe 

as he said it, — 
" Be of good cheer, my child; it is only to-day he 

departed. 



88 EVANGELINE 

Foolish boy! he has left me alone with my herds and 

my horses. 945 

Moody and restless grown, and tried and troubled, his 

spirit 
Could no longer endure the calm of this quiet ex- 
istence. 
Thinking ever of thee, uncertain and sorrowful ever, 
Ever silent, or speaking only of thee and his troubles, 
He at length had become so tedious to men and to 

maidens, 950 

Tedious even to me, that at length I bethought me, and 

sent him 
Unto the town of Adayes to trade for mules with the 

Spaniards. 
Thence he will follow the Indian trails to the Ozark 

Mountains, 
Hunting for furs in the forests, on rivers trapping the 

beaver. 
Therefore be of good cheer; we will follow the fugitive 

lover; 955 

He is not far on his way, and the Fates and the streams 

are against him. 

Adayes, a town in northern Texas. 

Ozark Mountains, mountains in southern Missouri extend- 
ing into Arkansas and Indian territory. 

Fates, according to ancient mythology the three fates were 
Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, who were represented as holding 
the destinies of human life. Clotho spun the thread of life; 
Lachesis twisted it ; and Atropos cut it with a scissors. 



EVANGELINE 89 

Up and away to-morrow, and through the red dew of the 

morning, 
We will follow him fast, and bring him back to his 

prison." 

Then glad voices were heard, and up from the banks 

of the river. 
Borne aloft on his comrades' arms, came Michael the 

fiddler. 960 

Long under Basil's roof had he lived, like a god on 

Olympus, 
Having no other care than dispensing music to mortals. 
Far renowned was he for his silver locks and his fiddle. 
" Long live Michael," they cried, " our brave Acadian 

minstrel!" 
As they bore him aloft in triumphal procession; and 

straightway 965 

Father Felician advanced with Evangeline, greeting 

the old man 
Kindly and oft, and recalling the past, while Basil, 

enraptured, 
Hailed with hilarious joy his old companions and 

gossips, 
' Laughing loud and long, and embracing mothers and 

daughters. 
Much they marvelled to see the wealth of the ci-devant 

blacksmith, 970 

Olympus, a mountain in ancient Greece supposed to be the 
home of the Gods. 
Ci-devant, former. 



90 EVANGELINE 

All his domains and his herds, and his patriar chal 

demeanor ; 
Much they marvelled to hear his tales of the soil and 

the climate. 
And of the prairies, whose numberless herds were his 

who would take them; 
Each one thought in his heart, that he, too, would go 

and do likewise. 
Thus they ascended the steps, and, crossing the breezy 

veranda, 975 

Entered the hall of the house, where already the supper 

of Basil 
Waited his late return; and they rested and feasted 

together. 

Over the joyous feast the sudden darkness descended. 

All was silent without, and, illuming the landscape with 
silver, 

Fair rose the dewy moon, and the myriad stars; but 
within doors, 980 

Brighter than these, shone the faces of friends in the 
glimmering lamplight. 

Then from his station aloft, at the head of the table, 
the herdsman 

Poured forth his heart and his wine together in endless 
profusion. 

Lighting his pipe that was filled with sweet Natchito- 
ches tobacco, 

Natchitoches, a town and district located on the Red River. 



EVANGELINE 91 

Thus he spake to his guests, who hstened, and smiled 

as they hstened:— 985 

" Welcome once more, my friends, who long have been 

friendless and homeless, 
Welcome once more to a home, that is better perchance 

than the old one! 
Here no hungry winter congeals our blood like the 

rivers ; 
Here no stony ground provokes the wrath of the farmer; 
Smoothly the ploughshare runs through the soil, as a 

keel through the water. 990 

All the year round the orange-groves are in blossom; 

and grass grows 
More in a single night than a whole Canadian summer. 
Here too, numberless herds run wild and unclaimed in 

the prairies; 
Here, too, lands may be had for the asking, and forests 

of timber 
With a few blows of the axe are hewn and framed into 

houses. 995 

After your houses are built, and your fields are yellow 

with harvests, 
No King George of England shall drive you away from 

. your homesteads. 
Burning your dwellings and barns, and stealing your 

farms and your cattle." 

Line 997, Louisiana was originally settled by the French. In 
1763 it became Spanish, and in 1801 was ceded back to France. 
It was acquired by the United States in 1803 through purchase. 
The Acadians reached New Orleans in 1765. 



92 EVANGELINE 

Speaking these words, he blew a wrathful cloud from 

his nostrils, 
While his huge, brown hand came thundering down on 

the table, 1000 

So that the guests all started; and Father Felician, 

astounded, 
Suddenly paused, with a pinch of snuff half-way to 

his nostrils. 
But the brave Basil resumed, and his words were milder 

and gayer: — 
*' Only beware of the fever, my friends, beware of the 

fever! 
For it is not like that of our cold Acadian climate, 1005 
Cured by wearing a spider hung round one's neck in a 

nutshell!" 
Then there were voices heard at the door, and foot- 
steps approaching 
Sounded upon the stairs and the floor of the breezy 

veranda. 
It was the neighboring Creoles and small Acadian 

planters, 
Who had been summoned all to the house of Basil the 

herdsman. lOlO 

Merry the meeting was of ancient comrades and 

neighbors : 
Friend clasped friend in his arms; and they who before 

were as strangers, 

Creoles, originally natives descended from French ancestors 
who had settled in Louisiana; later, any native of French or Span- 
ish descent by either parent. 



EVANGELINE 93 

Meeting in exile, became straightway as friends to 
each other, 

Drawn by the gentle bond of a common country 
together. 

But in the neighboring hall a strain of music, pro- 
ceeding 1015 

From the accordant strings of Michael's melodious 
fiddle. 

Broke up all further speech. Away, like children 
delighted. 

All things forgotten beside, they gave themselves to 
the maddening 

Whirl of the dizzy dance, as it swept and swayed to 
the music, 

Dreamlike, with beaming eyes and the rush of flutter- 
ing garments. . _^Q^Q 

Meanwhile, apart, at the head of the hall, the priest 

and the herdsman 
Sat conversing together of past and present and future; 
While Evangeline stood like one entranced, for within 

her 
Olden memories rose, and loud in the midst of the 

music 
Heard she the sound of the sea, and an irrepressible 

sadness 1^25 

Came o'er her heart, and unseen she stole forth into 

the garden. 
Beautiful was the night. Behind the black wall of 

the forest, 



94 EVANGELiyE 

Tipping its summit -^-ith silver, arose the moon. On 
the river 

Fell here and there through the branches a tremulous 
gleam of the moonlight, 

Like the sweet thoughts of love on a darkened and 
devious spirit. 1030 

Nearer and round about her, the manifold flowers of 
the garden 

Poured out their souls in odors, that were their pra\'ers 
and confessions 

Unto the night, as it went its way, like a silent Car- 
thusian. 

Fuller of fragrance than they, and as heavy with 
shadows and night-dews, 

Hung the heart of the maiden. The calm and the 
magical moonlight 1035 

Seemed to inundate. her soul with indefinable longings, 

As, through the garden-gate, and beneath the shade of 
the oak-trees. 

Passed she along the path to the edge of the measure- 
less prairie. 

Silent it lay, with a silvery haze upon it, and fire- 
flies 

Gleaming and floating away in mingled and infinite 
numbers. 1040 



Carthusiax, a religious order of Monks founded in 10S6 in 
Chartreux, France. They are remarkable for their austerity. 
They support themselves by manual labor and assume a vow of 
almost perpetual silence. 



( 



EVANGELINE 95 

Over her head the stars, the thoughts of God in the 

heavens, 
Shone on the eyes of man, who had ceased to marvel and 

worship, 
Save when a blazing comet was seen on the walls of 

that temple, 
As if a hand had appeared and written upon them, 

" Upharsin." 
And the soul of the maiden, between the stars and the 

fire-flies, 1045 

Wandered alone, and she cried, '' O Gabriel! O my 

beloved! 
Art thou so near unto me, and yet I cannot behold 

thee? 
Art thou so near unto me, and yet thy voice does not 

reach me? 
Ah! how often thy feet have trod this path to the prairie! 
Ah! how often thine eyes have looked on the woodlands 

around me! 1050 

Ah! how often beneath this oak, returning from labor, 
Thou hast lain down to rest, and to dream of me in thy 

slumbers! 
When shall these eyes behold, these arms be folded 

about thee?" 
Loud and sudden and near the note of a whippoor- 

will sounded 
Like a flute in the woods; and anon, through the 

neighboring thickets, 1055 

Temple, the sky. 

Upharsin, read Daniel v, 5-29. 



96 EVANGELINE 

Farther and farther away it floated and dropped into 

silence. 
'' Patience!" whispered the oaks from oracular caverns 

of darkness; 
And, from the moonlit meadow, a sigh responded, 

" To-morrow!" 

Bright rose the sun next day; and all the flowers 
of the garden 

Bathed his shining feet with their tears, and anointed 
his tresses 1060 

With the delicious balm that they bore in their vases of 
crystal. 

*' Farewell!" said the priest, as he stood at the shadowy 
threshold ; 

*' See that you bring us the Prodigal Son from his 
fasting and famine, 

And, too, the Foolish Virgin, who slept when the bride- 
groom was coming." 

" Farewell!" answered the maiden, and, smiling, with 
Basil descended 1065 

Down to the river's brink, where the boatmen already 
were waiting. 

Thus beginning their journey with morning, and sun- 
shine, and gladness, 

Oracular Caverns, referring to the celebrated oracle of 
Apollo at Delphi in Greece, where men sought to know the future. 

Prodigal Son, read Luke xv, 11-32. 

Foolish Virgin, read Matthew xxv, 1-13. 



EVANGELINE 97 

Swiftly they followed the flight of him who was speed- 
ing before them, 
Blown by the blast of fate like a dead leaf over the 

desert. 
Not that day, nor the next, nor yet the day that 

succeeded, 1070 

Found they trace of his course, in lake or forest or 

river. 
Nor, after many days, had they found him; but vague 

and uncertain 
Rumors alone were their guides through a wild and 

desolate country; 
Till, at the little inn of the Spanish town of Adayes, 
Weary and worn, they alighted, and learned from the 

garrulous landlord 1075 

That on the day before, with horses and guides and 

companions, 
Gabriel left the village, and took the road of the prairies. 



IV 

Far in the West there lies a desert land, where the 

mountains 
Lift, through perpetual snows, their lofty and luminous 

summits. 
Down from their jagged, deep ravines, where the gorge, 

like a gateway, 1080 

Opens a passage rude to the wheels of the emigrant's 

wagon, 



98 EVANGELINE 

Westward the Oregon flows and the Walleway and 

Owyhee. 
Eastward, with devious course, among the Wind-river 

Mountains, 
Through the Sweet-water Valley precipitate leaps the 

Nebraska, 
And to the south, from Fontaine-qui-bout and the 

Spanish Sierras, 1085 

Fretted with sands and rocks, and swept by the wind 

of the desert. 
Numberless torrents, with ceaseless sound, descend to 

the ocean. 
Like the great chords of a harp, in loud and solemn 

vibrations. 
Spreading between these streams are the wondrous 

beautiful prairies. 
Billowy bays of grass ever rolling in shadow and sun- 
shine, 1090 
Bright with luxuriant clusters of roses and purple 

amorphas. 

Oregon, the Columbia River, formerly called the Oregon. 

Walleway, a river in northwest Oregon. 

Owyhee, a river in northern Nevada. 

Wind-river Mountains, in the western part of Wyoming. 

Sweet-water, name of a river in Wyoming. 

FoNTAiNE-oui-BOUT (pronounced, fon-tan-ke-boo), French for 
"boiling spring." A creek flowing into the Arkansas at Pueblo, 
Colorado. 

Sierras, the teeth of a saw. Saw-like ridges of mountains 
in Utah and New Mexico. 

Amorphas, a plant known as the false indigo, or lead plant. 



EVANGELINE 99 

Over them wandered the buffalo herds, and the elk 

and the roebuck; , ., , 

Over them wandered the wolves, and herds of riderless 

horses ; 
Fires that blast and Wight, and winds that are weary 

with travel; 
Over them wander the scattered tribes of Ishmael s 
, ., , 1095 

children, , . ^ ^^^ 

staining the desert with blood; and above their terrible 

war-trails _ 

Circles and sails aloft, on pinions majestic the vulture. 
Like the implacable soul of a chieftain slaughtered m 

battle, ,, > 

By invisible stairs ascending and scalmg the heavens. 

Here and there rise smokes from the camps of these 
savage marauders; _ ^]^^ 

Here and their rise groves from the margins of swift- 
running rivers; 

And the grim, taciturn bear, the anchorite monk of 
the desert, ^ , iu 

Climbs down their dark ravines to dig for roots by the 

brookside. 
And over all is the sky, the clear and crystalline heaven. 
Like the protecting hand of God inverted above them. 

Into this wonderful land, at the base of the Ozark 
X • 1106 

Mountains, 

Ishmael's Children, read Genesis xxi, 14-21. 
Monk, hermit. 



100 EVANGELINE 

Gabriel far had entered, with hunters and trappers 

behind him. 
Day after day, with their Indian guides, the maiden 

and Basil 
Followed his flying steps, and thought each day to 

overtake him. 
Sometimes they saw, or thought they saw, the smoke of 

his campfire 1110 

Rise in the morning air from distant plain ; but at night- 
fall, 
When they had reached the place, they found only 

embers and ashes. 
And, though their hearts were sad at times and their 

bodies were weary, 
Hope still guided them on, as the magic Fata Morgana 
Showed them her lakes of light, that retreated and 

vanished before them. 1115 

Once, as they sat by their evening fire, there silently 

entered 
Into the little camp an Indian woman, whose features 
Wore deep traces of sorrow, and patience as great as 

her sorrow. 
She was a Shawnee woman returning home to her 

people 
From the far-off hunting-grounds of the cruel Cam- 

anches, 1120 

Fata Morgana, the Italian name for an optical delusion or 
mirage. 



EVANGELINE 101 

Where her Canadian husband, a coureur-des-bois, had 

been murdered. 
Touched were their hearts at her story, and warmest 

and friendUest welcome 
Gave they, with words of cheer, and she sat and feasted 

among them 
On the buffalo-meat and the venison cooked on the 

embers. 
But when their meal was done, and Basil and all his 

companions, 1125 

Worn with the long day's march and the chase of the 

deer and the bison, 
Stretched themselves on the ground, and slept where 

the quivering fire-light 
Flashed on their swarthy cheeks, and their forms 

wrapped up in their blankets, 
Then at the door of Evangehne's tent she sat and 

repeated 
Slowly, with soft, low voice, and the charm of her 

Indian accent, 1130 

All the tale of her love, with its pleasures, and pains, 

and reverses. 
Much Evangeline wept at the tale, and to know that 

another 
Hapless heart like her own had loved and had been 

disappointed. 
Moved to the depths of her soul by pity and woman's 

compassion, 

Coureur-des-bois, a Canadian guide. 



102 EVANGELINE 

Yet in her sorrow pleased that one who had suffered 

was near her 1135 

She in turn related her love and all its disasters. 
Mute with wonder the Shawnee sat, and when she had 

ended 
Still was mute; but at length, as if a mysterious horror 
Passed through her brain, she spake, and repeated the 

tale of the Mowis; 
Mowis, the bridegroom of snow, who won and wedded 

a maiden, 1140 

But, when the morning came, arose and passed from 

the wigwam. 
Fading and melting away and dissolving into the 

sunshine, 
Till she beheld him no more, though she followed far 

into the forest. 
Then, in those sweet, low tones, that seemed like a 

weird incantation, 
Told she the tale of the fair Lilinau, who was wooed 

by a phantom, 1145 

That, through the pines o'er her father's lodge, in the 

hush of the twilight. 

Breathed like the evening wind, and whispered love 
to the maiden, 

Why was the tale of Mowis incorporated in the poem? Recall 
the story of Rene Lablanc, Have these stories anything to do 
with the development of the main story? 

Incantation, witchcraft. 

Lilinau (pronounced le-le-no), an Indian legend. 



EVANGELINE 103 

Till she followed his green and waving plume through 

the forest, 
And nevermore returned, nor was seen again by her 

people. 
Silent with wonder and strange surprise, Evangeline 

listened H^O 

To the soft flow of her magical words, till the region 

around her 
Seemed like enchanted ground, and her swarthy guest 

the enchantress. 
Slowly over the tops of the Ozark Mountains the moon 

rose. 
Lighting the little tent, and with a mysterious splendor 
Touching the sombre leaves, and embracing and filling 

the woodland. 1155 

With a delicious sound the brook rushed by, and the 

branches 
Swayed and sighed overhead in scarcely audible 

whispers. 
Filled with the thoughts of love was Evangeline's heart, 

but a secret, 
Subtile sense crept in of pain and indefinite terror. 
As the cold, poisonous snake creeps into the nest of the 

swallow. 1160 

It was no earthly fear. A breath from the region of 

spirits 
Seemed to float in the air of night; and she felt for a 

moment 
That, like the Indian maid, she, too, was pursuing 

a phantom. 



104 EVANGELINE 

With this thought she slept, and the fear and the 
phantom had vanished. 

Early upon the morrow the march was resumed, and 

the Shawnee 1165 

Said, as they journeyed along, — " On the western 

slope of these mountains 
Dwells in his little village the Black Robe chief of the 

Mission. 
Much he teaches the people, and tells them of Mary 

and Jesus; 
Loud laugh their hearts with joy, and weep with pain, 

as they hear him." 
Then, with a sudden and secret emotion, Evangeline 

answered, — 1170 

" Let us go to the Mission, for there good tidings await 

us!" 
Thither they turned their steeds; and behind a spur 

of the mountains. 
Just as the sun went down, they heard a murmur of 

voices. 
And in a meadow green and broad, by the bank of a 

river, 
Saw the tents of the Christians, the tents of the Jesuit 

Mission. 1175 

Under a towering oak, that stood in the midst of the 

village. 

Black Robe chief, a member of the sacred order of Jesuits, 
so called by the Indians on account of his black dress. 



EVANGELL\E 105 

Knelt the Black Robe chief with his children. A 

crucifix fastened 
High on the trunk of the tree, and overshadowed by 

grape-vines, 
Looked with its agonized face on the multitude kneel- 
ing beneath it. 
This was their rural chapel. Aloft, through the in- 
tricate arches 1180 
Of its aerial roof, arose the chant of their vespers. 
Mingling its notes with the soft susurrus and sighs of 

the branches. 
Silent, with heads uncovered, the travellers, nearer 

approaching, 
Knelt on the swarded floor, and joined in the evening 

devotions. 
But when the service was done, and the benediction 

had fallen 1185 

Forth from the hands of the priest, like seed from the 

hands of the sower. 
Slowly the reverend man advanced to the strangers, 

and bade them 
Welcome; and when they replied, he smiled with 

benignant expression. 
Hearing the home-like sounds of his mother-tongue in 

the forest. 
And with words of kindness, conducted them into his 

wigwam. 1190 

There upon mats and skins they reposed, and on cakes 

of the maize-ear 
Susurrus, whispering. 



106 EVANGELINE 

Feasted, and slaked their thirst from the water-gourd 

of the teacher. 
Soon was their story told; and the priest with solemnity 

answered : — 
'' Not six suns have risen and set since Gabriel, seated 
On this mat by my side, where now the maiden 

reposes, 1195 

Told me this same sad tale; then arose and continued 

his journey!" 
Soft was the voice of the priest, and he spake with an 

accent of kindness; 
But on Evangeline's heart fell his words as in winter 

the snow-flakes 
Fall into some lone nest from which the birds have 

departed. 
'' Far to the north he has gone," continued the priest; 

" but in autumn, 1200 

When the chase is done, will return again to the 

Mission." 
Then Evangeline said, and her voice was meek and 

submissive, 
'' Let me remain with thee, for my soul is sad and 

afflicted." 
So seemed it wise and well unto all ; and betimes on the 

morrow. 
Mounting his Mexican steed, with his Indian guides 

and companions, 1205 

Homeward Basil returned, and Evangeline stayed at 

the Mission. 



EVANGELINE 107 

Slowly, slowly, slowly the days succeeded each other, — 
Days and weeks and months; and the fields of maize 

that were springing 
Green from the ground when a stranger she came, now 

waving about her. 
Lifted their slender shafts, with leaves interlacing, 

and forming 1210 

Cloisters for mendicant crows and granaries pillaged 

by squirrels. 
Then in the golden weather the maize was husked, 

and the maidens 
Blushed at each blood-red ear, for that betokened a 

lover, 
But at the crooked laughed, and called it a thief in 

the cornfield. 
Even the blood-red ear to Evangeline brought not her 

lover. 1215 

*' Patience!" the priest would say; ^' have faith, and thy 

prayer will be answered! 
Look at this vigorous plant that lifts its head from the 

meadow, 
See how its leaves are turned to the north, as true as the 

magnet ; 
It is the compass-flower, that the finger of God has sus- 
pended 
Here on this fragile stalk, to direct the traveller's 

journey 1220 

Over the sea-like, pathless, limitless waste of the desert. 

Compass-flower, a plant that grows in the prairies of the west, 
the leaves of which point due north and south, and hence the name. 



108 EVANGELINE 

Such in the soul of man is faith. The blossoms of 
passion. 

Gay and luxuriant flowers, are brighter and fuller of 
fragrance, 

But they beguile us, and lead us astray, and their odor 
is deadly. 

Only this humble plant can guide us here, and here- 
after 1225 

Crown us with asphodel flowers, that are wet with the 
dews of nepenthe." 

So came the autumn, and passed, and the winter — 

yet Gabriel came not; 
Blossomed the opening spring, and the notes of the 

robin and bluebird 
Sounded sweet upon wold and in wood, yet Gabriel 

came not. 
But on the breath of the summer winds a rumor was 

wafted, 1230 

Sweeter than song of bird, or hue or odor of blossom. 
Far to the north and east, it said, in the Michigan 

forests, 
Gabriel had his lodge by the banks of the Saginaw 

River. 



Asphodel, according to the ancient poets, it is a beautiful 
flower which grows in the Elysian fields; another name for the 
Greek heaven. 

Nepenthe, according to Homer, a magic draught from this 
plant produces forgetfulness of pain and sorrow. 



EVANGELINE ^09 

And with returning guides, that sought the lakes of 

St. Lawrence, 
Saying a sad farewell, Evangeline went from the 

Mission. ^^^^ 

When over weary ways, by long and perilous marches. 
She had attained at length the depths of the Michigan 

forests, 
Found she the hunter's lodge deserted and fallen to 

ruin! 

Thus did the long sad years glide on, and in seasons 
and places 
Divers and distant far was seen the wandering 

maiden; — ^^ 

Now in the Tents of Grace of the meek Moravian 

Missions, 
Now in the noisy camps and the battle-fields of the 

army. 
Now in secluded hamlets, in towns and populous cities. 
Like a phantom she came, and passed away unremem- 

bered. 
Fair was she and young, when in hope began the long 

journey; ^^^^ 

Faded was she and old, when in disappointment it 

ended. 

Moravian Missions, members of the Christian denomination, 
called the United Brethren, who formed a separate church in 
Moravia. They have been especially noted for their energy and 
missionary activity. 



110 EVANGELINE 

Each succeeding year stole something away from her 

beauty, 
Leaving behind it, broader and deeper, the gloom and 

the shadow. 
Then there appeared and spread faint streaks of gray 

o'er her forehead, 
Dawn of another life, that broke o'er her earthly 

horizon, 1250 

As in the eastern sky the first faint streaks of the 

morning. 



In that delightful land which is washed by the 

Delaware's waters, 
Guarding in sylvan shades the name of Penn the 

apostle, 
Stands on the banks of its beautiful stream the city 

he founded. 
There all the air is balm, and the peach is the emblem 

of beauty, 1255 

And the streets still re-echo the names of the trees of 

the forest. 

Does the poem in anj^ way give a hint as to where Evangeline 
was taken on leaving Acadia? 

William Penn, the Quaker, founder of Pennsylvania. 
Line 1254, Philadelphia. 

Line 1256, many streets in Philadelphia are named for trees, 
Chestnut, Walnut, Pine, etc. 



EVANGELINE 111 

As if they fain would appease the Dryads whose haunts 
they molested. 

There from the troubled sea had Evangeline landed, an 
exile, 

Finding among the children of Penn a home and a 
country. 

There old Rene Leblanc had died; and when he de- 
parted, 1260 

Saw at his side only one of all his hundred descendants. 

Something at least there was in the friendly streets of 
the city. 

Something that spake to her heart, and made her no 
longer a stranger; 

And her ear was pleased with the Thee and Thou of 
the Quakers, 

For it recalled the past, the old Acadian country, 1265 

Where all men were equal, and all were brothers and 
sisters. 

So, when the fruitless search, the disappointed en- 
deavor, 

Ended, to recommence no more upon earth, uncom- 
plaining. 

Thither, as leaves to the light, were turned her thoughts 
and her footsteps. 

As from a mountain's top the rainy mists of the 
morning 1270 

Roll away, and afar we behold the landscape below 
us, 

Dryads, nymphs of the woods. 



112 EVANGELTNE 

Sun-illumined, with shining rivers and cities and 

hamlets, 
So fell the mists from her mind, and she saw the world 

far below her. 
Dark no longer, but all illumined with love; and the 

pathway 
Which she had climbed so far, lying smooth and fair 

in the distance. 1275 

Gabriel was not forgotten. Within her heart was his 

image, 
Clothed in the beauty of love and youth, as last she 

beheld him. 
Only more beautiful made by his deathlike silence and 

absence. 
Into her thoughts of him time entered not, for it was 

not. 
Over him years had no power; he was not changed, 

but transfigured; 1280 

He had become to her heart as one who is dead, and 

not absent; 
Patience and abnegation of self, and 'devotion to others. 
This was the lesson a life of trial and sorrow had taught 

her. 
So was her love diffused, but, like to some odorous 

spices. 
Suffered no waste nor loss, though filling the air with 

aroma. 1285 

Other hope had she none, nor wish in life, but to follow 
Meekly, with reverent steps, the sacred feet of her 

Saviour. 



EVANGELINE 113 

Thus many years she Hved as a Sister of Mercy; 

frequenting 
Lonely and wretched roofs in the crowded lanes of the 

city, 
Where distress and want concealed themselves from 

the sunlight. 1290 

Where disease and sorrow in garrets languished 

neglected. 
Night after night when the world was asleep, as the 

watchman repeated 
Loud, through the dusty streets, that all was well 

in the city, 
High at some lonely window he saw the light of her 

taper. 
Day after day, in the gray of the dawn, as slow through 

the suburbs 1295 

Plodded the German farmer, with flowers and fruits for 

the market. 
Met he that meek, pale face, returning home from its 

watchings. 

Then it came to pass that a pestilence fell on the city, 
Presaged by wondrous signs, and mostly by flocks of 
wild pigeons. 

Sisters of Mercy, a religious order of women who devote 
their lives to attending the sick and poor. 

Line 1293, before the advent of poHcemen, night watchers 
cried out the hours and at the same time saying "all is well." 

Line 1295, Germantown, now a part of Philadelphia. 

Pestilence, the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793. 




OLD FRIENDS ALMSHOUSE^ PHILADELPHIA 



EVANGELINE 115 

Darkening the sun in their flight, with naught in their 

craws but an acorn. 1300 

And, as the tides of the sea arise in the month of 

September, 
Flooding some silver stream, till it spreads to a lake 

in the meadow, 
So death flooded life, and, overflowing its natural 

margin. 
Spread to a brackish lake the silver stream of existence. 
Wealth had no power to bribe, nor beauty to charm, 

the oppressor; 1305 

But ah perished alike beneath the scourge of his anger; — 
Only, alas! the poor, who had neither friends nor 

attendants. 
Crept away to die in the almshouse, home of the 

homeless. 
Then in the suburbs it stood, in the midst of meadows 

and woodlands; — 
Now the city surrounds it; but still, with its gateway 

and wicket 1310 

Meek, in the midst of splendor, its humble walls seem 

to echo 
Softly the words of the Lord: — '' The poor ye always 

have with you." 
Thither, by night and by day, came the Sister of Mercy. 

The dying 

Line 1308, the Old Friends' Almshouse near Fourth and Wal- 
nut Streets, Philadelphia. 

Line 1312, read Mark xiv, 7. 



116 EVANGELINE 

Looked up into her face, and thought, indeed, to behold 
there 

Gleams of celestial light encircle her forehead with 
splendor, 1315 

Such as the artist paints o'er the brows of saints and 
apostles, 

Or such as hangs by night o'er a city seen at a dis- 
tance. 

Unto their eyes it seemed the lamps of the city 

celestial. 
Into whose shining gates erelong their spirits would 
enter. 

Thus, on a Sabbath morn, through the streets de- 
serted and silent, 1320 

Wending her quiet way, she entered the door of the 
almshouse. 

Sweet on the summer air was the odor of flowers in the 
garden, 

And she paused on her way to gather the fairest among 
them, 

That the dying once more might rejoice in their frag- 
rance and beauty. 

Then, as she mounted the stairs to the corridors, 
cooled by the east-wind, 1325 

Distant and soft on her ear fell the chimes from the 
belfry of Christ Church, 

Christ Church, a historic Protestant Episcopal Church in 
Philadelphia, on Second Street above Market. 



EVANGELINE 117 

While, intermingled with these, across the meadows 

were wafted 
Sounds of psalms, that were sung by the Swedes in 

their church at Wicaco. 
Soft as descending wings fell the calm of the hour on 

her spirit; 
Something within her said, " At length thy trials are 

ended"; 1330 

And, with light in her looks, she entered the chambers 

of sickness. 
Noiselessly moved about the assiduous, careful attend- 
ants. 
Moistening the feverish lip, and the aching brow, and 

in silence 
Closing the sightless eyes of the dead, and concealing 

their faces. 
Where on their pallets they lay, like drifts of snow by 

the roadside, 1335 

Many a languid head, upraised as Evangeline entered. 
Turned on its pillow of pain to gaze while she passed, 

for her presence 
Fell on their hearts like a ray of the sun on the walls 

of a prison. 
And, as she looked around, she saw how Death, the 

consoler, 
Laying his hand upon many a heart, had healed it 

forever. 1340 

Many familiar forms had disappeared in the night 

time; 
Vacant their places were, or filled already by strangers. 



118 EVANGELINE 

Suddenly, as if arrested by fear or a feeling of wonder, 
Still she stood, with her colorless lips apart, while a 

shudder 
Ran through her frame, and, forgotten, the flowerets 

dropped from her fingers, 1345 

And from her eyes and cheeks the light and bloom of 

the morning. 
Then there escaped from her lips a cry of such terrible 

anguish. 
That the dying heard it, and started up from their 

pillows. 
On the pallet before her was stretched the form of an 

old man. 
Long, and thin, and gray were the locks that shaded 

his temples; 1350 

But, as he lay in the morning light, his face for a moment 
Seemed to assume once more the forms of its earlier 

manhood ; 
So are wont to be changed the faces of those who are 

dying. 
Hot and red on his lips still burned the flush of the 

fever, 
As if life, like the Hebrew, with blood had besprinkled 

its portals, 1355 

That the Angel of Death might see the sign, and pass 

over. 
Motionless, senseless, dying, he lay, and his spirit 

exhausted 

Line 1355, read Exodus xii, 22, 23. 



EVANGELINE 119 

Seemed to be sinking down through infinite depths in 

the darkness, 
Darkness of slumber and death, forever sinking and 

sinking. 
Then through those realms of shade, in multiplied rever- 
berations, 13G0 
Heard he that cry of pain, and through the hush that 

succeeded 
Whispered a gentle voice, in accents tender and saint- 
like, 
'' Gabriel! O my beloved!" and died away into silence. 
Then he beheld, in a dream, once more the home of his 

childhood; 
Green Acadian meadows, with sylvan rivers among 

them, . 1365 

Village and mountain, and woodlands; and, walking 

under their shadow, 
As in the days of her youth, Evangeline rose in his 

vision. 
Tears came into his eyes; and as slowly he lifted his 

eyelids. 
Vanished the vision away, but Evangeline knelt by his 

bedside. 
Vainly he strove to whisper her name, for the accents 

unuttered 1370 

Died on his lips, and their motion revealed what his 

tongue would have spoken. 
Vainly he strove to rise; and Evangeline, kneeling beside 

him, 
Kissed his dying lips, and laid his head on her bosom. 



120 EVANGELINE 

Sweet was the light of his eyes; but it suddenly sank 

into darkness, 
As when a lamp is blown out by a gust of wind at a 

casement. 1375 

All was ended now, the hope, and the fear, and the 

sorrow, 
All the aching of heart, the restless, unsatisfied longing, 
All the dull, deep pain, and constant anguish of patience, 
And, as she pressed once more the lifeless head to her 

bosom. 
Meekly she bowed her own, and murmured, " Father, I 

thank thee!" 1380 



Still stands the forest primeval; but far away from its 
shadow. 

Side by side, in their nameless graves, the lovers are 
sleeping. 

Under the humble walls of the little Catholic church- 
yard. 

In the heart of the city they lie, unknown and un- 
noticed. 

Daily the tides of life go ebbing and flowing beside 
them, 1385 

Thousands of throbbing hearts, where theirs are at rest 
and forever, 

Thousands of aching brains, where theirs no longer 
are busy, 



EVANGELINE 121 

Thousands of toiling hands, where theirs have ceased 

from their labors, 
Thousands of weary feet, where theirs have completed 

their journey! 

Still stands the forest primeval ; but under the shade of 
its branches 1390 

Dwells another race, with other customs and language. 

Only along the shore of the mournful and misty 
Atlantic 

Linger a few Acadian peasants, whose fathers from exile 

Wandered back to their native land to die in its bosom. 

In the fisherman's cot the wheel and the loom are still 
busy; 1395 

Maidens still wear their Norman caps and their kirtles 
of homespun, 

And by the evening fire repeat Evangeline's story. 

While from its rocky caverns the deep-voiced, neigh- 
boring ocean 

Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail 
of the forest. 



HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



His Boyhood 



Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born February 27, 1807, 
in Portland, Maine, which he calls "the beautiful town that is 
seated by the sea." His father was Stephen Longfellow, a grad- 
uate of Harvard College, a prominent lawyer in Portland, and 
at one time a member of Congress. His mother was Zilpah 
Wadsworth, a beautiful woman, fond of music, poetry, and 
social life. On his mother's side the poet traced his ancestral 
line to John Alden and Priscilla Mullen, whom he immortalized 
in "The Courtship of Miles Standish." Henry Wadsworth, the 
second son, was named after his maternal uncle, a lieutenant 
in the American navy. His home was in every way favorable 
to the development of a love for literature. He was surrounded 
by books and an atmosphere of culture and refinement. 

His College Days 

He prepared himself for college at the Portland Academy, and 
in his fourteenth year was sent to Bowdoin College, where he 
became a member of the famous class of 1825. Some of his 
classmates were: Nathaniel Hawthorne, the novelist, John S. C. 
Abbott, a clergyman and writer, George B. Cheever, the eminent 
lecturer, and Edward Preble, son of Commodore Preble. The 
year 1821, that Longfellow entered College, William Cullen 
Bryant published his first volume of poems, and James Fenimore 
Cooper, his novel, The Spy. His translation in the Sophomore 
year of one of Horace's Odes secured later a professorship in his 

123 



124 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

Alma Mater. He was a close student and ranked second in a 
class of thirty-seven. 

BowDOiN Professorship 

Upon graduation from Bowdoin, when he was but nineteen 
years of age, the trustees offered him the newly created professor- 
ship of modern languages, which he gladly accepted. He spent 
three years in France, Spain, Italy, and Germany preparing for 
his work, and returned to Bowdoin, where he remained for five 
years at an annual salary of a thousand dollars. He taught four 
modern languages and prepared his own text-books in French, 
Spanish, and Italian. One of the fruits of his European study 
was a little book in prose which he called Outre Mer. It is made 
up of a series of sketches in the manner of Irving's Sketch Book. 

His Marriage 

In 1831 he married Miss Mary Storer Potter, of Portland, a 
lady of rare beauty and of exceptional culture. Their happy 
married life lasted just four years. On his second visit to Europe 
she accompanied him and died suddenly at Rotterdam in Novem- 
ber, 1835. She is the "being beauteous" commemorated in the 
poem, "The Footsteps of Angels." 

Harvard Professorship 

Longfellow's reputation as a teacher and as a writer was not 
confined to Bowdoin. He was looked upon as a teacher of rare 
ability and as a rising man in the world of letters. He was called 
to Harvard as professor of modern languages and belles lettres 
to succeed George Tichnor, the historian of Spanish literature. 
Before entering upon his duties at Harvard he went abroad the 
second time to study the Scandinavian tongues, and further 
acquaintance with Germany. At Interlaken he became ac- 
quainted with Miss Frances Appleton, who inspired the writing 
of his romance Hyperion. In this story Miss Appleton appears as 
Mary Ashburton, and the poet as Paul Fleming. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 125 



His Cambridge Home 

In 1836 he returned to his duties at Harvard, and took up his 
residence in the Craigie House in Cambridge. This famous 
house belonged to an eccentric widow who supported herself by 
lodgers and was prejudiced against students. She consented to 
accept Longfellow as a boarder upon his assurance that he was 
not a student, and as a mark of special honor assigned him the 
room General George Washington had occupied. The Craigie 
House is the most historic house in New England save Faneuil 
Hall. It is a fine example of colonial architecture, guarded by 
stately poplars, and commands a fine view of the Charles River. 
It was the headquarters of General Washington for nine months 
after the battle of Bunker Hill; Jared Sparks, President of Har- 
vard College, had kept house in it; Edward Everett, the orator, 
and Joseph E. Worcester, the lexicographer, lodged here with 
Mrs. Craigie; but it was destined to become still more illus- 
trious as the home of America's most popular poet, the laureate 
of the common human heart. Upon the poet's marriage to Miss 
Appleton, this famous house was presented as a marriage present 
to the bride by her father, and it became Longfellow's home for 
forty years. "Here the poet received cordially his most distin- 
guished foreign visitors and the humblest child admirer." In 
1861 the poet suffered a great loss,through the tragic death by 
fire of his wife. She was buried on the anniversary of her wed- 
ding-day. The poet was too severely injured in trying to subdue 
the flames to attend her funeral. No direct mention of his loss 
appeared in his later poetry, but this bears a sadder tone. His 
translation of Dante became the poet's solace. 

For seventeen years Longfellow faithfully discharged his 
duties as the head of the department of modern languages, giving 
no less than seventy lectures a year. On his seventy-second birth- 
day, February 27, 1879, the school-children of Cambridge pre- 
sented the poet with a chair made from the wood of "The Village 
Blacksmith's" chestnut tree, and called forth the poem "From 
My Arm Chair." 



126 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

His Death 

Longfellow's last years were eventless. Nine days before his 
death he completed his last poem, "The Bells of San Bias," the 
spirit of which was in harmony with his whole life : 

"Out of the shadows" of the night 
The world rolls into light; 
It is daybreak everywhere." 

On March 24, 1882, he passed away. There was mourning in 
two continents. A palm branch and a passion flower were laid 
upon the casket. At the service verses from "Hiawatha" were 
read, beginning : ^ 

"He is dead, the sweet musician." 

I. CHRONOLOGY OF LONGFELLOW'S POETRY AND 
PROSE 

1833. Outre Mer. A young poet's sketch-book. 

1839. Voices of the Night. The volume that established his name 
as a poet. Its most popular poem. The Psalm of Life. 

1839. Hyperion. A Romance. Hyperion is another sketch- 
book, but it is richer and more mature than Outre Mer. 

1841. Ballads and other Poems. It included such popular poems 
as The Skeleton in Armor, The Wreck of the Hesperus, The 
Village Blacksmith, Excelsior, and The Rainy Day. 

1843. Spanish Student. A three-act play. 

1845. Poets and Poetry of Europe. Selections from 360 authors. 

1846. Belfry of Bruges and other Poems. It included five popular 
poems: To a Child, Nuremberg, The Day is Done, The 
Bridge, and The Old Clock On the Stairs. 

1847. Evangeline. The flower of American idyls. Longfellow's 

representative poem and his favorite among his own 
writings. 

1849. Kavanagh. A tale of New England life. 

1850. The Seaside and the Fireside. The most striking poems are 

The Building of the Ship and Resignation. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 127 

1851. The Golden Legend. Intended to illustrate Christianity in 
the Middle Ages. 

ISoo. Hiawatha. America's national epic poem. *' Like Arthur, 
Hiawatha seeks to redeem his kingdom from savagery 
and to teach the blessing of peace." 

1858. Courtship of Miles Standish. The Plymouth idyl. A 
colonial romance. 

1865-74. Tales of a Wayside Inn. The several poems appeared 
from time to time during a period of ten years. The plan 
of the poem is similar to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. In 
the poems there are seven narrators: the Poet (T. W. 
Parsons), the Sicilian (Luigi Monti), the Musician (Ole 
Bull), the Student (Dr. Henry Wales), the Theologian 
(Prof. Daniel Treadwell, of Harvard), the Spanish Jew 
(Israel Edrehi), the Landlord (Squire Lyman Howe). 

1867. Translation of Dante's Divine Comedy. 

1872. Christus. A trilogy. The poet worked more than twenty 
years on this production. The three parts: 

a. The Divine Tragedy (1871). 

b. The Golden Legend (1851). 
0. New England Tragedies. 

1. John Endicott (story of Quaker persecution). 

2. Giles Corey of the Salem Farms— a story of witch- 
craft. 

1872. The Three Books of Song. 

1873. Aftermath. 

1874. The Hanging of the Crane. A picture of domestic life called 
forth by a visit of the poet to Thomas B. Aldrich and his 
newly wedded wife in their home. 

1875. Morituri Salutamus. A noble poem read at the fiftieth 

anniversary of his class at Bowdoin. 
1875. The Masque of Pandora. The story is that of Hawthorne's 

Paradise of Children. 
1878. Keramos (potter's clay). 
1880. Ultima Thule. 
1882. In the Harbor. A posthumous volume of poems. 



128 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

II. THE ORIGIN OF THE POEM 

It is interesting to learn just how Longfellow came into pos- 
session of the material that he used in writing Evangeline, the 
most read poem in American literature. 

The first record that we have of the unfortunate Acadian 
lovers was made by Hawthorne in his American Note Books, 
October 4, 1838. The story had been told to Hawthorne by the 
Rev. H. L. Connolly, who, in turn, had received it from one of 
his Canadian parishioners. Connolly saw in this incident a 
fine theme for a romance, but somehow the subject did not appeal 
to Hawthorne. One day Hawthorne came to dine with Longfel- 
low at the Craigie House, bringing with him his friend Connolly. 
At the dinner table Connolly again told the story, and was greatly 
surprised that Hawthorne did not care for it. "It was the story 
of the young Acadian maiden, who, at the dispersion of her people 
by the English troops, had been separated from her betrothed 
lover; they sought each other for years in their exile; and at last 
they met in a hospital where the lover lay dying. Mr. Longfellow 
was touched by the story, especially the constancy of the heroine, 
and said to his friend, "If you really do not want this incident for 
a tale, let me have it for a poem." ^ 

Scott had never seen Melrose by moonlight when he wrote his 
well-known lines: 

"If thou wouldst view fair Melrose aright, 
Go visit it by the pale moonlight. " 

Longfellow had never visited the scenes described in his 
poem, though travelers have testified to the accuracy of his 
portrayal. The sources from which Longfellow gathered the 
material for his poem are well known. "As far as I remember," 
he said, "the authorities I mostly relied upon in writing Evangel- 
ine were the Abbe Raynal and Mr. Haliburton; the first for the 

^ "Life and Letters of Henry W. Longfellow," by Samuel 
Longfellow. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 129 

pastoral, simple life of the Acadians; the second for the history 
of their banishment." The Indian legends were taken from 
►Schoolcraft's Algic Researches. It is a well-known fact that he 
did not visit Grand-Pre nor the Mississippi, but trusted to the 
above-named authorities for his descriptions and Banvard's 
moving diorama of the Mississippi. In his note-book, on Decem- 
ber 17th and 19th, we find this entry: "I see a diorama of the 
Mississippi advertised. The river comes to me instead of my 
going to the river." "Went to see Banvard's moving diorama 
of the Mississippi. One seems to be sailing down the great stream, 
and sees the boats and sand-banks crested with cotton-wood and 
the bayous by moonlight." 

The question has often been asked. Why did Longfellow place 
the final scene in Philadelphia? The answer to this question is 
best answered in the language of the poet. "I was passing 
down Spruce Street one day toward my hotel after a walk, when 
my attention was attracted to a large building with beautiful 
trees about it, inside of a high inclosure. I walked along until I 
came to the great gate, and then stepped inside, and looked care- 
fully over the place. The charming picture of lawn, flower-beds, 
and shade which it presented made an impression which has never 
left me, and when I came to write Evangeline, I placed the final 
scene, the meeting between Evangeline and Gabriel, and the 
death, at the poor-house, and the burial in an old Catholic grave- 
yard not far away, which I found by chance in another of my 
walks." 

III. HISTORICAL MATERIAL 

The Acadians 

That section of North America which we now call Nova Scotia 
was discovered in 1497 by the Cabots, who claimed it for the 

^ Haliburton's History of Nova Scotia; Hannay's History of 
Acadia; Smithes Acadia; Murdock's History of Nova Scotia; Park- 
man's Montcalm and Wolfe. 



130 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 




BIOGRAPniCAL SKETCH 131 

English. The settlement of Nova Scotia, however, was due to the 
French in 1598. By orders of Henry IV, Marquis de la Roche 
sailed with a single ship with a number of convicts from the prisons 
of France. He selected Sable Island, ninety miles southeast of 
Nova Scotia, as a fit place for settlement. The Marquis soon 
returned to France and left his colony of forty convicts to its fate. 
Seven years later only twelve of them were found alive, and when 
they were brought back to France, the king ordered a general 
pardon for their offenses. 

In 1603 Monsieur De Mont was made governor-general of the 
province. The commission of De Mont extended from the 40th 
to the 46th degrees of north latitude, that is, from Virginia almost 
to the head of Hudson Bay. The region was named Acadia, 
and DeMont sailed thither with four vessels in March, 1604, with 
Champlain acting as pilot. De Mont entered the Bay of Fundy 
and anchored in a harbor on the northern shore of the peninsula. 
There a settlement was begun to which the name of Fort Royal 
was given. 

In 1621 Sir William Alexander received from James I the gift 
of a province in America, lying on the east side of a line drawn in a 
northern direction from the river St. Croix to the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence. This country was named in the patent. Nova Scotia, or 
New Scotland. It was in this manner that confusion at a subse- 
quent period caused so much difficulty and gave rise to an intri- 
cate discussion whether Nova Scotia and Acadia were names for 
the same country, or whether they were distinct and separate 
provinces. 

For centuries the French and English had been enemies, and it 
was but natural for their continental quarrels to be taken up by 
their respective subjects in the new world. In colonial history 
these wars between England and France were known as Queen 
Anne's War, King George's War, and the French and Indian 
War. Even in times of peace the peninsula of Nova Scotia was 
not large enough for the English and French to live peacefully side 
by side, and as a natural consequence one side had to conquer the 
other. The English were constantly encroaching upon the claims 



132 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

of the French, and the French were as equally determined that 
the English should not get a foothold in the province. 

By the treaty of Breda (1667), England gave up all claim to 
Acadia, and the province passed under French control. During 
Queen Anne's War, an English fleet of thirty-six vessels captured 
Port Royal, and the name was changed to Annapolis, so called 
in honor of Queen Anne. Acadia was annexed to Great Britain 
under the title of Nova Scotia, and so for a period of one hundred 
and fifty years this territory passed back and forth under the 
control of the two nations. 

By the treaty of Utrecht (1713) between France and England, 
all of Nova Scotia was ceded to Great Britain. By the terms of 
that treaty, the inhabitants of Acadia were to hold their lands 
subject to the Crown of England; they were to be protected in 
their religion and to be exempted from bearing arms against the 
French and Indians. This gave them the name of French neutrals, 
being French in sympathy and English in government. 

The English did not like to see this fertile country given up 
entirely to the French, and so they decided to establish a colony 
there. This brought up the question of ownership. Now the 
serious troubles of the simple-minded Acadians began. ''Gov- 
ernor Shirley, of Massachusetts, proposed to remove the Acadians 
altogether, and to distribute them among the English colonies. 
This atrocious policy was opposed at first by the British ministry. 
A more humane policy was adopted. It was to settle so many 
Englishmen among the Acadians that the obedience of the 
French inhabitants to British authority would be secured. 
Finally, the British government induced disbanded British 
soldiers and marines to accept lands among the Acadians and 
to settle there. During the year 1749 about 1400 of these, led 
by Colonel Cornwallis, went among the Acadians and planted 
the first EngUsh town east of the Penobscot, in a dreary place, 
and called it Halifax." 

"Twenty years before, when the Acadians bowed submissively 
to Enghsh rule, they had been promised freedom in religious 
matters and exemption from bearing arms against the French 



BIOGRAPIHCAL SKETCH 133 

and Indians, but now they were ordered to take another oath 
of allegiance to Great Britain and the supremacy of the Crown 
in religious matters, and be subjected to all the duties of English 
subjects. A thousand men signed a petition humbly asking per- 
mission to sell their lands and remove to some place to be provided 
by the French government. Their hearts bore allegiance to 
France and their church, and they begged not to be compelled to 
take arms against one, nor to forswear the other. The haughty 
Cornwallis said to the ambassadors, who brought the petition 
to him: 'Take the oath or your property will be confiscated. 
It is for me to command, you to obey.' " 

The French and Indian War brought matters to a crisis. It 
now became a question of supremacy between the French and 
English in America. Upon the arrival of General Braddock in 
the colonies, four separate plans of campaign were agreed upon 
to dislodge the French from their strongholds. General Braddock 
was to proceed against Fort DuQuense; Governor Shirley, of 
Massach\isetts, was to attack Fort Niagara; Colonel William 
Johnson was to capture Crown Point ; while a fourth campaign was 
in progress to drive the French out of Nova Scotia. Three thou- 
sand New England troops sailed from Boston May 20, 1755, 
under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel John Winslow, a 
great grandson of Edward Winslow, who came over in the 
Mayflower. Landing near the head of the Bay of Fundy, they 
were joined by Colonel Monckton and a force of regulars. There 
were onl}^ two fortified posts in the province, both on the neck of 
land uniting Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Beau se jour, 
the principal one, stood at the head of Chignecto Bay. The 
landing was made June 3, 1775, and the siege of the fort was 
begun the following day. Upon the surrender of the fort, three 
hundred French neutrals were actually found in arms. To bear 
arms against the King of England was a violation of the condi- 
tions of neutrality. Yet, notwithstanding, an offer was made to 
such of the Acadians as had not been openly in arms to be allowed 
to continue in the possession of their land if they would take the 
oath of allegiance without any qualification. This they unani- 



134 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

mously refused to do. The violation of their obhgation to their 
king was a great cause of their misfortune. To this may be added 
a distrust of the right of the EngUsh to the territory which they 
inhabited, and the indemnity promised them at the surrender of 
Fort Beau se jour. Inasmuch as they had violated the conditions 
of their neutrality it was determined to remove and disperse this 
whole people among the British colonies, where they could not 
unite in any offensive manner, and where they might be neutral- 
ized to the government and country. 

The execution of this unusual and general sentence was allotted 
chiefly to the New England forces under Lieutenant-Colonel 
John Winslow. At a consultation held between Lieutenant- 
Colonel Winslow and Captain Murray, it was agreed that a proc- 
lamation should be issued at the different settlements requiring 
the attendance of the people, at the respective posts, on the same 
day; which proclamation should be so ambiguous in its nature, 
that the object for which they were to assemble could not be dis- 
cerned; and so peremptory in its terms, as to insure implicit 
obedience. This instrument having been drafted and approved, 
was distributed according to the original plan. That which was 
addressed to the people inhabiting the country now comprised 
within the limits of King's County was as follows: 

"To the inhabitants of the District of Grand-Pre, Minas, 
River Canard, etc., as well ancient, as young men and lads: 

"Whereas, his Excellency the Governor, has instructed us of 
his late resolution, respecting the matter proposed to the in- 
habitants, and has ordered us to communicate the same in person, 
his Excellency, being desirous that each of them should be fully 
satisfied of his Majesty's intentions, which he has also ordered us 
to communicate to you such as they have been given to him; we 
therefore order and strictly enjoin, by these presents, all of the 
inhabitants, as well of the above named District, as of all the 
other Districts both old men and young men, as well as all the 
lads of ten years of age, to attend at the Church at Grand Pre, 
on Friday the fifth instant, at three of the clock in the afternoon, 
that we may impart to them what we are ordered to communicate 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 1-35 

to them; declaring that no excuse will be admitted on any pre- 
tence whatever, on pain of forfeiting goods and chattels, in default 
of real estate. Given at Grand-Pre, 2nd September, 1755, and 
29th year of his Majesty's reign. 

''John Winslow." 

On the next day, in obedience to this sunnnons, four hundred 
and eighteen able-bodied men assembled. These being shut into 
the church (for that too had become an arsenal), Lieutenant- 
Colonel Winslow placed himself and his officers in the centre and 
addressed them through an interpreter, thus: 

"Gentlemen: 

" I have received from his Excellency, Governor Lawrence, the 
King's Commission, which I have in my hand; and by his orders 
you are convened together to manifest to you, his Majesty's 
final resolution to the French inhabitants of this his Province of 
Nova Scotia; who, for almost half a century, have had more 
indulgence granted them than any of his subjects in any parts of 
his dominions ; what use you have made of it, you yourselves best 
know. The part of duty I am now upon, though necessary, is 
very disagreeable to my natural make and temper, as I know it 
must be grievous to you, who are of the same species; but it is not 
my business to animadvert but to obey such orders as I receive, 
and therefore without hesitation, shall deliver you his Majesty's 
orders and instructions, namely — that your lands and tenants, 
cattle of all kinds and live stock of all sorts, are forfeited to the 
Crown ; with all your other effects, saving your money and house- 
hold goods, and you yourselves to be removed from this his 
Province. Thus it is peremptorily his Majesty's orders, that the 
whole French inhabitants of these Districts be removed; and I 
am, through his Majesty's goodness, directed to allow you liberty 
to carry off your money and household goods, as many as you 
can without discommoding the vessels you go in. I shall do 
everything in my power that all those goods be secured to you, and 
that you are not molested in carrying them off; also, that whole 



136 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

families shall go in the same vessel, and make this remove, 
which I am sensible must give you a great deal of trouble, as easy 
as his Majesty's service will admit; and hope that, in whatever 
part of the world you may fall, you may be faithful subjects, a 
peaceful and happy people. I must also inform you, that it is 
his Majesty's pleasure that you remain in security under the 
inspection and direction of the troops that I have the honor to 
command." 

He then declared them the king's prisoners. The whole num- 
ber of persons collected at Grand-Pre finally amounted to 483 men 
and 387 women, heads of families; and their sons and daughters, 
to 527 of the former, and 576 of the latter; making in the whole 
1923 souls. Their stock consisted of 1269 oxen, 1557 cows, 5007 
young cattle, 493 horses, 8690 sheep, and 4197 hogs. Some of 
these wretched inhabitants escaped to the woods, and all possible 
means were adopted to force them back into captivity. The 
country was laid waste to prevent their subsistence. In the 
District of Minas alone there were destroyed 255 houses and 276 
barns. In all about 6000 Acadians were taken from their homes 
and sent to the various English colonies. 

Inasmuch as Longfellow depended upon Haliburton's " History 
of Nova Scotia" for his incidents and point of view, the following 
account of the "dispersion" has been taken largely from Hali- 
burton. Preparations having been completed, the 10th of 
September was fixed upon as the day of departure . The prisoners 
were drawn up six deep, and the young men, 161 in number, were 
ordered to go first on board of the vessels, but expressed a willing- 
ness to comply with the order, provided they were permitted to 
embark with their families. This request was immediately re- 
jected, and the troops were ordered to fix bayonets and advance 
tow^ard the prisoners, a motion which had the effect of producing 
obedience on the part of the young men, who forthwith com- 
menced their march. The road from the chapel to the shore, just 
one mile in length, was crowded with women and children, who 
on their knees, greeted them as they passed with their tears and 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 137 

their blessings; while the prisoners advanced with slow and 
reluctant steps, weeping, praying, and singing hymns — this de- 
tachment was followed by the seniors, who passed through the 
same scene of sorrow and distress. In this manner was the whole 
male part of the population of the District of Minas put on board 
the five transports, stationed in the river Gaspereaux; each vessel 
being guarded by six non-commissioned officers and eighty priv- 
ates. As soon as the other vessels arrived their wives and chil- 
dren followed, and the whole population of the District of Minas 
were transported from Nova Scotia. 

For several successive evenings the cattle assembled around the 
smoldering ruins, as if in anxious expectation of the return of their 
masters; while all night long the faithful watchdogs of the neutrals 
howled over the scene of desolation, and mourned alike the hand 
that hud fed and the house that had sheltered them. 

These poor unfortunate exiles were scattered in North Carolina, 
Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and 
Massachusetts, and eventually a large number of them found 
their way to Louisiana. They were not too kindly received in 
many of the colonies with the exception of Louisiana, where kin- 
dred speech won sympathy for them to the extent that farming 
implements were furnished free to them by the government. 
They found homes, as the poem tells, along the river Tcche, where 
they became prosperous farmers and herders. 

From time to time these exiles sent remonstrances to the 
king, but without avail . One sent by the exiles in Pennsylvania 
sets forth at great length the trials and hardships undergone at 
home and in exile. It recites the experience of Rene Leblanc, 
the only historical person named in the poem, as follows: "He 
was seized, confined, and brought away from the rest of the people 
and his family, consisting of twenty children, and about one 
hundred and fifty grandchildren were scattered in different 
colonies, so that he was put ashore at New York, with only his 
wife and two youngest children in an infirm state of health, from 
whence he joined three more of his children at Philadelphia, 
where he died without any more notice being taken of him than 



138 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 




BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 139 

any of us, notwithstanding his many years' labor and deep suffer- 
ing for your Majesty's service." Notwithstanding the severity 
of the treatment the Acadians had experienced, they sighed in 
their exile to revisit their native land. That portion of them who 
had been sent to Georgia actually set out^n their return, and by a 
circuitous and hazardous route had reached Boston when they 
were met by orders from Governor Lawrence for their detention, 
and were compelled to give up hope of returning to their native 
land. As time went on a few of them found their way back to 
Grand-Pre, as the poet says: 

"Only on the shores of the mournful and misty Atlantic 
Linger a few Acadian peasants, whose fathers from exile 
Wandered back to their native land to die in its bosom." 

Such was the fate of these deluded and unfortunate people. 
As to the justice of the act, many historians differ. It is claimed 
by one historian that these lands were unusually fertile, and that 
the English coveted them, and hence the expulsion. Another 
asserts that the Acadians might have remained if they had been 
willing to renew their oath of allegiance, and that the refusal to 
do so was construed as an act of hostility which undoubtedly 
aroused suspicion on the part of the English. Still another 
claims that the expulsion was a political necessity. Haliburton, 
the historian of Nova Scotia, in summing up the matter, says: 
"Upon an impartial review of the transactions of this period, it 
must be admitted that the transportation of the Acadians to 
distant colonies, with all the marks of ignominy and guilt peculiar 
to convicts, was cruel; and although such a conclusion could then 
be drawn, yet subsequent events have disclosed that the ex- 
pulsion was unnecessary. It seems totally irreconcilable with 
the idea, as at this day entertained, of justice that those who are 
not involved in the guilt should participate in the punishment, or 
that a whole community should suffer for the misconduct of a 
part. It is doubtless a stain on the Provincial Councils, and we 
shall not attempt to justify that which all good men have agreed 



140 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

to condemn. But we must not lose sight of the offense in pity for 
the culprits, nor in the indulgence of our indignation forget that 
although nothing can be offered in defence, much may be 
produced in palliation of this transaction. Had the milder 
sentence of unrestricted exile been passed upon them, it was 
obvious that it would have had the effect of recruiting the strength 
of Canada, and that they would naturally have engaged in those 
attempts which the French were constantly making for the re- 
covery of the province. Three hundred of them had been found 
in arms at one time, and no doubt existed of others having advised 
and assisted the Indians in those numerous acts of hostility which 
at that time interrupted the settlement of the country. When all 
were suspected of being disaffected, and many were detected in 
open rebellion, what confidence could be placed in their future 
loyalty? If the Acadians, therefore, had to lament that they 
were condemned unheard, that their accusers were also their 
judges, and that their sentence was disproportionate to their 
offence, they had also much reason to attribute their misfortunes 
to the intrigues of their countrymen in Canada, who seduced 
them from their allegiance to a government which was disposed 
to extend to them its protection and regard and instigated them 
to a rebellion which was easy to foresee would end in their ruin." 
"Whatever judgment may be passed on the cruel measure of 
wholesale expatriation, it was not put in execution till every 
resource of patience and persuasion had been tried and failed. 
The agents of the French court, civil, mihtary, and ecclesiastical, 
made some act of force a necessity. The government of Louis XV 
began with making the Acadians its tools, and ended with making 
them its victims." * 

A Picture of Acadian Life 

Abbe Reynal, who knew nothing of this people except from 
hearsay, has drawn the following ideal picture of them, which 
later writers have copied and embellished. "They were a simple 

^ Francis Parkman, " Montcalm and Wolfe." 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 141 

and very ignorant peasantry, industrious and frugal, till evil 
davs came to discourage them; living aloof from the world, with 
little of that spirit of adventure which marked their Canadian 
kindred; having few wants, and those of the rudest Hunting 
and fishing, which had formerly been the delight of the Colony 
and might have still supplied it with subsistence, had no further 
attraction for a simple and quiet people, and gave way to agri- 
culture which had been established in the marshes and lowlands 
bv repelling with dikes the sea and rivers which covered these 
plains At the same time these immense meadows were covered 
with numerous flocks. They computed as many as sixty thou- 
sand head of horned cattle; and most families had several horses, 
though the tillage was carried on by oxen. Their habitations 
which were constructed of wood, were extremely convenient, and 
furnished as neatly as substantial farmers' houses m Europe 
Their usual clothing was in general the product of their own flax 
or the fleeces of their own sheep; with these they made common 
linens and coarse cloths. If any of them had a desire for articles 
of greater luxury, they procured them from Annapolis or Louis- 
burg, and gave in exchange corn, cattle, or furs. Ihe neutral 
French had nothing else to give their neighbors, and made still 
fewer exchanges among themselves; because each family was able, 
and had been accustomed, to provide its own wants. They there- 
fore knew nothing of paper currency, which was so common 
throughout the rest of North America. Their manners were 
extremely simple. There was seldom a cause, either civil or 
criminal, of importance enough to be carried before the Court 
of Judication estabUshed at AnnapoUs. Whatever little differ- 
ences arose from time to time among them were amicably ad- 
justed by their elders. All their public acts were ^rawn by thur 
Pastors, who had likewise the keeping of their wills; for which and 
their religious services the inhabitants paid a twenty-seventh 

part of their harvest. .• • f^^ 

'' Real misery was wholly unknown, and benevolence anticipated 
the demands of poverty. Every misfortune was ^^^^^ved, as it 
before it could be felt, without ostentation, on the one hand, 



were 



142 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

and without meanness on the other. It was^ in short, a society of 
brethren, every individual of which was equally ready to give and 
to receive what he thought the common right of mankind. As 
soon as a young man arrived at the proper age, the community 
built him a house, broke up the lands about it, and supplied him 
with all the necessaries of life for a twelve-month. There he 
received the partner whom he had chosen, and who brought him 
her portion in flocks. In 1755, all together made a population of 
eighteen thousand souls." 

The Meter of Evangeline 

The meter in which Evangeline is written is called dactylic 
hexameter, — that is, each line contains six feet, hence the name, 
hexameter. Each foot, except the last, contains one accented 
syllable followed by two unaccented syllables. The last foot 
contains an accented syllable followed by an unaccented one. 
"The name given to a verse is determined by the foot which 
prevails, but not every foot in the line needs to be the same kind. 
Just as in music, we may substitute a quarter for two eighth 
notes, so may we in poetry substitute one foot for another, 
provided it is given the same amount of time." ^ 

While the normal meter of Evangeline is dactylic hexameter, 
there are some exceptions to the rule. To avoid monotony in 
having the regular feet constantly recurring, a trochee is frequently 
used as a substitute for a dactyl. The following, from Evangeline, 
illustrates the substitution of trochees for dactyls: 

"Waste are those | pleasant | farms, and the | farmers for | ever de | parted | 
Scattered like I dust and | leaves when the | mighty i blasts of Oc | tober | 
Seize them and | whirl them a | loft, and | sprinkle them | over the | 

ocean | 
Naught but tra | dition re | mains of the | beautiful | village of | Grand- 
Pre." I 

Frequently a verse contains more than one substituted foot: 

"List to a I tale of | love in | Acadie, | home of the | happy." 

^ Brooks and Hubbard's "Rhetoric." 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 143 

The motor thut Lon<?follow selected in which to write Evangel- 
ine has its defects from the fact that each line must begin with an 
accent, yet upon a careful investigation of the poem you will 
find that less than fifty per cent, of the lines begin with an accented 
syllable. The poet cleverly avoided this : 

First. By placing an unnatural accent on the first word of the 
sentence, e. g.: 

"But when the hymn was sung, and the daily lesson completed, 
Swiftly they hurried away to the forge of Basil, the Black- 
smith. — Line 123. 

Second. By changing the order of the words in the sentence: 

"Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen summers." 
"Sweet was her breath, as the breath of the kine that fed in the 
meadows." — Line 68. 

"Longfellow used for the poem a meter which had been but 
seldom used in English literature — the old hexameter of Homer 
and Virgil. As a result, few poems in American literature have 
been more criticized. It seems to be the opinion generally of 
critics that the real classic hexameter cannot be reproduced in 
English. The language is too harsh and unbending, and the 
quantity of English syllables depends upon accent and is not 
unchangeable, as is the case with the Greek. There is much to 
criticize in Longfellow's hexameters. He ignored the spondees, 
which add such a peculiar charm to the Greek and Latin epics; 
he sometimes wrenched words violently to bring them to his use ; 
he has many faulty lines that are not even good prose. There is 
a fatal facility about the meter that is very liable to make the 
poem written in it monotonous, "sounding," as one critic has 
said, "like hoof-beats on a muddy road." But notwithstanding 
these criticisms, all must admit that to change the meter of 
Evangeline would be to rob it of much of its beauty. It has a 
sweet, lilting movement, very pleasing to the popular ear, and it 
is peculiarly fitted to the sentimental, melancholy atmosphere of 
the poem. There are lines in it that lose nothing when compared 



144 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

with the best of the classical hexameters. The twenty-three 
lines describing the burning of Grand Pre, commencing "Sud- 
denly arose from the south" while not perfect metrically, are 
nevertheless Homeric in their grandeur." ^ 

Suggestive Questions 

1. From what sources did the poet get the material for his 
story? 

2. Give the origin of the poem. 

3. Name the four regions of North America in which the 
principal scenes are laid. 

4. Mention some of the superstitions believed in by the 
Acadians. 

5. Explain how Evangeline came to receive the name, "The 
Sunshine of St. Eulalie." 

6. Does the poem give you the impression that Gabriel and 
Evangeline were married? 

7. Which scene do you consider the most pathetic? the most 
heroic? 

8. What predominates in the poem: character, sketching, 
nature study, or dramatic incidents? 

9. What comparison in the prelude strikes the key-note of 
the poem? 

10. Give a reason for Evangeline straying in grave-yards. 

11. What is the climax of the story? 

12. Why does the poet make use of so many biblical allusions? 

13. Which passage do you consider the most beautifully 
written? 

14. Trace upon a map the w^anderings of Evangeline as revealed 
by the poem. 

15. How many different classes of men are described? 

16. Gather together all that the poet says of the following 
characters: Rene Leblanc, Basil, Benedict, and Father Felician. 

17. What was Evangeline's first disappointment? 

^ Pattee's "History of American Literature," pp. 266, 267. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 145 

18. What difference in character, occupation, and temperament 
is shown in Benedict and Basil? How does each bear misfortune? 

19. Why did the poet select Philadelphia as the particular 
place for the closing scene of the poem? 

20. At what particular port do you imagine that Evangeline 
was landed? 

21. Name some other characters in literature that will com- 
pare with Longfellow's delineation of Father Felician. 

22. Could the poem be called a panorama of beautiful pictures? 

23. Is Evangeline as sharply characterized as are some of the 
great heroines of tragedy? 

24. Find several examples of Longfellow's use of analogy. 

25. What similarity is there between the fate of the orphan 
girl and that of the Acadians? 

26. Why are the stories of Mo wis and Lilinau introduced into 
the poem? 

27. Which variety of scenery does Longfellow seem to prefer — 
Canadian forests, southern bayous by moonlight, prairies, or 
great American rivers? 

CRITICAL OPINIONS OF EVANGELINE. 

"Py this work of his maturity he has placed himself on a higher 
eminence than he has yet attained and beyond the reach of envy. 
Let him stand there, at the head of our list of native poets, until 
some one else shall break up the rude soil of our American life, 
as he has done, and produce from it a lovelier and nobler flower 
than this poem." — Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

"As it is the longest, so it is the most complete, the most 
artistically finished, of all your poems. I know nothing better 
in the language than all the landscape painting. The South- 
western pictures are strikingly vigorous and new. The story is 
well handled and the interest well sustained. Some of the images 
are well conceived and as statuesquely elaborated as anything 
you have c\'er put out of your atelier — which is saying a great 
deal." — Fro7n letter of John Lothrop Motley to Longfellow. 



14() BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

"One cannot read this delightful poeii without feeling that 
the heart of the writer is in it, not less than in the "Psalm of 
Life." While the delineation of natural scenery, and of the 
simplicity of rural life and manners is minutely faithful and dis- 
tinct; while the characters are so well conceived, and so graphic- 
ally drawn, that in the progress of the piece they become to one 
as familiar friends — the highest power of the story results from 
the fact that the author was so possessed by his theme that he 
wrote almost as if narrating a personal experience. Every line 
throbs with vitality, and the whole is suffused with a glow of 
genuine feeling. The result is originality, fascination, pathos. 
Evangeline has become as much a real person to the reading 
world as Joan of Arc; and the incidents of her history hold the 
attention and are believed in like those of Robinson Crusoe." — 
Ray Palmer. 

"This work did more to establish Longfellow's reputation than 
any of his previous ones, and if, as has been said by one of the 
profoundest critics, poems are to be judged by the state of mind 
in which they leave the reader, the high place which Evangeline 
occupies in popular esteem is justly awarded to it; for its chaste 
style and homely imagery, with its sympathetic and occasionally 
dramatic story, produce a refined and elevated impression, and 
present a beautiful and invigorating picture of 'affection that 
hopes and endures, and is patient,' of the beauty and strength 
of woman's devotion." — Henry Norman. 

"It is what the critics had been so long demanding and clamor- 
ing for — an American poem — and it is narrated with commendable 
simplicity, and a fluency which is not so commendable. Poetry, 
as poetry merely, is kept in the background; the descriptions, 
even when they appear redundant, are subordinated to the main 
purpose of the poem, out of which they rise naturally; the char- 
acters, if not clearly drawn, are distinctl}^ indicated, and the land- 
scapes through which they move are perfectly characteristic of 
the New World." — Richard Henry Stoddard. 

"A beautiful, pathetic tradition of American history, remote 
enough to gather a poetic halo, and yet fresh with sweet humani- 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 147 

ties; tinged with provincial color which ho knew and loved, and 
in its course taking on the changing atmosphere of his own land; 
pastoral at first, then broken into action, antl afterward the record 
of shifting scenes that made life a pilgrimage and dream. There 
are few dramatic episodes; there is but one figure whom we fol- 
low — that one of the most touching of all, the betrothed Evan- 
geline, searching for her lover through weary years and over 
half an unknown world. There are chance pictures of Acadian 
fields. New World rivers, prairies, bayous, forests by moonlight 
and starlight and midday; glimpses, too, of picturesque figures, 
artisans, farmers, soldiery, trappers, boatmen, emigrants, and 
priests. But the poem already is a little classic, and will remain 
one, just as surely as 'The Vicar of Wakefield,' the 'Deserted 
Village,' or any other sweet and pious idyl of our English tongue; 
yet we find its counterpart more nearly, I think, in some faultless 
miniature of the present French school." — Edmund Clarence 
Stedman. 

"Evangeline is as interesting as a novel. Try it on those acute, 
unbiased critics, the children. It fascinates them, for there is 
just enough description to make a background, and then the 
incidents follow naturally and cumulate, each succeeding picture 
adding to the effect, brought in at just the right time and dwelt 
on just long enough, with fine unconscious art." — Charles F. 
Johnson. 

"Evangeline in which he sweeps on broad ca^sural hexameter 
pinions, from the fir-fretted valleys of Acadia to the lazy, languor- 
ous tides wdiich surge silently through the bayous of Louisiana. 
There was an outcry at first that this poem showed classic affec- 
tation; but the beauty and the pathos carried the heroine and the 
metre into all hearts and homes in all English-speaking lands." — 
Donald G. Mitchell. 

"Evangohne was published October 30, 1847, one of the de- 
cisive dates in the history of American literature. It was the 
first narrative poem of considerable length by an American 
showing genuine creative power. Its purity of diction and 
elevated style, its beauties of description, its tenderness, pathos, 



148 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

and simplicity, its similes and metaphors at once true, poetic, 
and apt, its frequent passages betokening imaginative power, all 
embodied in a form unconventional, yet peculiarly appropriate, 
stamped it as a new and individual creation. It was the highest 
inspiration in idyllic poetry produced in America. The impres- 
sion left by a perusal of the poem is like that attributed to the 
passing of the heroine. It 'seemed like the ceasing of exquisite 
music' " — James L. Onderdonk. 

"In Evangeline, Mr. Longfellow has managed the hexameter 
with wonderful skill. The homely features of Acadian life are 
painted with Homeric simplicity, while the luxuriance of a South- 
ern climate is magnificently described with equal fidelity and 
minuteness of finish. The subject is eminently fitted for this 
treatment; and Mr. Longfellow's extraordinary resources of 
language have enabled him to handle it certainly with as perfect 
a mastery of the dactylic hexameter as any one has ever acquired 
in our language. Of the other beauties of the poem, we have 
scarcely left ourselves the space to say a word ; but we cannot help 
calling our reader's attention to the exquisite character of Evan- 
geline herself. As her virtues are unfolded by the patience and 
religious trust with which she passes through her pilgrimage of 
toil and disappointments, she becomes invested with a beauty 
as of angels. Her last years are made to harmonize the dis- 
cords of a life of sorrow and endurance. The closing scenes, 
though infused with the deepest pathos, inspire us with sadness, 
it is true, but at the same time leave behind a calm feeling that 
the highest aim of her existence has been attained." — Cor- 
nelius Conway Felton. 

Bibliography. 

Haliburton's "History of Nova Scotia." 
Smith's "Acadia." 
Hannay's "History of Acadia." 
Murdock's "History of Nova Scotia." 
Gayerre's "History of Louisiana." 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 149 

Bible's "Historical Sketch of the Acadians." 

Bourinot's "Builders of Nova Scotia." 

Brown's "Discovery of Nova Scotia." 

Butterworth's "Zigzag Journeys in Acadia." 

Chase's "Over the Border: Acadia, the Home of Evangeline." 

Cozzen's "Acadia or a Month with the Blue Noses." 

Deny's "Description and Natural History of the Coasts of 
North America." 

Eaton's "Acadian Legends and Lyrics." 

Grant's "Through Evangeline's Country." 

Hardy's "Forest Life in Acadia." 

Harlon's "Home of Evangeline." 

Llart's "Nova Scotia." 

Moonson's "Letters from Nova Scotia." 

Morley's "Down North and Up Along." 

New York Historical Society, vol 3, 1794, " Expedition to 
Acadia." 

" Tercentenary of De Mont's Settlement at St. Croix Island." 

Voorhies' "Acadian Reminiscences." 

Whipple's " History of Acadia, Penobscot Bay and River." 



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